Y

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

  • ya, yare, yere
    [Atlantic (Hancock 1969:64); from here by regular loss of /h/ and /r/; the /y/ is found in 17th century Brit. dial. DJE; also US dial. ...
  • Yabby
    [probably from RABBY ] n. 1. a folk-tale character: 1895 O, B' Yabby, knock dis ting fah me (Edwards 88). (Eleu., Inagua) 2. another name ...
  • yakee
    [cf. AKEE] n. a fruit, probably AKEE : 1966 Put on the boiler, boil a little yakee (Crowley 69). (Nassau) 39. akee, ackee, achee ...
  • yam
    See NYAM ...
  • yaller
    /yála/ adj. 1. [Atlantic (Hancock 1969:46); a dial, pronunciation in Brit. (EDD) and US (ADD)] yellow: 1936 D' yeller house wid d' blue winder (Dupuch ...
  • Yankee
    [OED, applied occasionally to a ship) n. a cargo vessel from the United States: 1977 American cargo vessels, known as Yankees (AIbury 53). (Nassau) ...
  • yard
    [Car.; OED, a barnyard; an enclosed area with grass and trees adjoining a house (now dial. and US)] n. 1. the area around a dwelling, ...
  • youth boy
    [ Atlantic (Collymore,CCD); also US dial. South (Brown 1976:36); cf. also Haitian gason lakou (lit. boy + yard) idem TDKF] n. a gardener/handyman: 1832 Employed ...
  • yard boy
    [for working in the YARD] n. work clothes: They mussy dead poor, cause I see her does wear her yard clothes and all to church ...
  • yard toilet
    n. a outside privy: Yinna so bad off till y'all got yard toilet (Nassau). (Gen.) ...
  • yarns
    [from the mass noun] count n., pl. strands of yarn: 1977 Old rope was taken apart and the good was spun into yarns for rope-making ...
  • ye
    /yiy/ [OED now in all uses dial. arch., or poet.  cf. US dial. /ya/ ADD] obj. pron. (second person) you: I'll give it to ye ...
  • yeah!
    [cf. US Black yeah! exclamation of approval (Gold)] intj. hello! (said with special intonation and often an accompanying guesture) (youth slang). (Black) ...
  • year-'ole
    /yir owl/ [cf. OED year ear obs. → 16th century, also Brit. dial. West year-hole idem EDD] n. ear. (Exuma, White) ...
  • years
    See EARS. ...
  • yeel
    [OED idem obs. → 17th century] n. an eel: A yeel is a long fish like a snake that lives in ponds (Mayag) (Black) ...
  • Yeho
    /yéy(h)ow/ [cf. W Car. Yaho or Yoho idem (Holm 1978:214); cf. OED yahoo name invented by Swift in Gulliver's Travels for an imaginary race of ...
  • yellow
    See YALLER. ...
  • yellow bird
    [OED, DAB different sp.] n. a bird, Dendroica petechia: 1972 (Paterson 137). = CHIP-CHIP (Gen.) ...
  • yellow-breast
    (Exuma, Nassau); yellow-chest (Eleu.)  [from its plumage] n. a bird, the bananaquit (Coereba flaveola): 1977 (Albury 27). BAHAMA SPARROW, BANANA BIRD 1, CHEE CHEE, JIN1Y ...
  • yellow folk
    [cf. YALLER 3] n. 1. light-skinned mulattoes: Yellow folk are people who are more white than colored (Grand Bah.). (Black) 2. white people (humorous). (White) 1454. ...
  • yellow grits
    [ cf. YALLER 2] n. coarsely-ground guinea-corn meal.= GUINEA-CORN GRITS, ISLAND GRITS, NATIVE GRITS, RED GRITS (Nassau) ...
  • yellow jack
    [DJE idem] n. a fish, Caranx bartholomeai: 1905 (Shattuck 302). (Gen.) ...
  • yellow-mouth grouper
    (Black); yellow grouper (Andros, Adelaide) n, a fish, Mycteroperca inter-stitialis: 1968 (Bohlke 284). ...
  • yellow-mouth grunt
    (Gen.); yellow grunt (Andros) n. a fish, Haemulon sp. ...
  • yellow nicker (tree)
    [DJE idem ; from its seeds] n. a tree, Guilandina bonduc or Caesalpina bonduc: 1889 (Gardner 375). = RED NICKER cf. NICKER (BEAN) (Exuma, White) ...
  • yellow popper
    n. a tree, the yellow elder (Tecoma stans): 1889 (Gardner 397). = TRUMPET FLOWER (Exuma, Inagua) ...
  • yellow sponge
    [DAB idem 1877→; cf. YALLER 2] n. a yellow or brownish short-fibered commercial sponge, Spongia officinalis barbara: 1836 A specimen of Yellow Sponge... from the ...
  • yellow stingray
    n. a fish, Urolophus jamaicensis: 1968 (Böhlke 31). (Black) ...
  • yellow tail
    n. a fish, Ocyurus chrysurus: 1918 He went to a drop where he hook a fine yellow-tail (Parsons 126). YELLOW-TAIL SNAPPER 1 (Gen.) ...
  • yellow tail snapper
    n. 1.a fish, Ocyurus chrysurus: 1968 (Böhlke 358). = YELLOW-TAIL (Eleu.) 2. [Car.] another fish, Messoprian chrysurus: The yellow-tail has two lines down the side ...
  • yellow-tail stripe
    n. a style of plaiting broad strips of light and dark STRAW1 together to form a pat-tern of dashes (Bannister display). ...
  • yellow vine
    n. 1. a plant, Urechites lutea, with a twining stem and a yellow flower: 1971 (Rabley 9). 2. a parasitic plant which grows thick in ...
  • yellow-wing
    [cf. WING I fin] n. a fish, a variety of grunt (Haemulon sp.). (Mayag.) ...
  • yellow-wing jack
    (Black); yellow-fin jack (Eleu.) n. a fish, probably Caranx hippos. ...
  • yerry
    [Atlantic (Hancock 1969:38); cf. Brit. dial. North, West year hear (EDD) + -EE, pidgin suf- fix] v., Obs. to hear: 1888 No eberyting you yerry ...
  • yesterday-day-before
    adv, phr. the day before yesterday: 1918 Yesterday day befo' b'o' Long-Tus' (Parsons 143). (Gen.) ...
  • yet
    [cf. OED not yet still not] adv. still: 1918 An' he went, an' he meet no rabbit yet (Parsons 11), 1966 Poor Booky, yet cutting ...
  • yeye
    /yay/ [Atlantic (Hancock 1969:60); cf. OED yie eye abs. →16th century; "by palatalization of initial vowel: cf. Engl., Scots, US dial.. There may be some ...
  • yiddy
    [cf. DJE yiti idem; W3 itty-bitty tiny (prob. from baby talk for little bit)] adj. little: 1918 I only p'int me yiddy*, yiddy finger at ...
  • yinna, yeener, yenner, yonner, you-no
    [cf. Gul. yinnuh, yunnuh idem ADD, DJE unu, Krio ina, yuna KED, Vir. Dutch Cr. yina (Hancock 1979: 13); Port. Cr. inãse (Ivens Ferraz 1979:62) ...
  • yinnaself
    [cf. YINNA 1 + -self] refl. pron. yourselves: Go bathe yinnaself off fore y 'all come talking bout l ain' dress good (Nassau). cf. ONASELF, ...
  • Yiya
    [cf. Car. yaya an affectionate term of address to one's mother or grandmother; cf. Kongo yaya, Ewe ya, Yoruba iya, all 'mother' DJE] n. a ...
  • Ynagua
    n. a former spelling of INAGUA: 1788 (Schoepf 314). ...
  • Yoruba, Youraba
    [cf. Yoruba an ethnic group in southeastern Nigeria] n. an African tribal group: 1891 [Bahamians] still retain their African tribal distinctions; they are divided into ...
  • you, yuh
    [also W Car., US Black ADD; cf. OED you your obs. →1642 or dial. (rare); derived by regular loss of postvocalic /r/ and lack of ...
  • you ain't want do no better
    phr. It's your own fault. (Gen.) ...
  • you and all!
    [Car.; cf. Trin. idem, you of all people (Winer)] phr. You're making matters more difficult by being unreasonable (a rebuke). ...
  • you do for more
    [Car.] phr. You're being unreasonable. (Black) ...
  • you do well
    [Car.; cf. Krio yu du wεl (often sarcastic) Your efforts are much appreciated KED] phr. You are being inconsiderate. (Gen.) ...
  • you good for yourself
    [cf. Good for you idem phr. You're doing well. (Gen.) ...
  • you mussy wanna shit
    [cf. you must be smell yourself idem] phr. You are too impudent. (Gen.) ...
  • you-all
    [Car. (Hancock 1978:1); US dial. South idem ADD; cf. Twi mó nyina (lit, you all) idem (Herskovitz 288)] pron. you (plural): 1895 Chil-dren. . 'e'll ...
  • you-all self
    [cf. YOU-ALL + self] refl. pron. yourselves: Don't hurt you-all self! (San Sal.). cf. ONA SELF, YINNASELF, YOU-NAY SELVES (Black) 1821. you-nay selves 1795. yinnaself ...
  • you-nay
    /yúwney/ [probably from a reanalysis of YiNNA, YOUNA you (pl.) as you and they; cf. -NAY in Mary-nay Mary and her family/friends] pron. you (PI.). ...
  • you-nay selves
    [cf. YOU-NAY + selves] refl. pron. yourselves. (White) ...
  • young blood
    n.1. [OED, a young hothead obs. →1630] a hot-blooded young man; a daredevil. cf. BLOOD (Inagua, White) 2. [cf. US Black, a young black person ...
  • young-blooded
    [cf. YOUNG BLOOD / + hot-blooded] adj. daring. (Inagua, Mayag.) ...
  • young corn
    [W Car.] n. tender, immature ears of maize, eaten whole as a vegetable. (San Sal.) ...
  • young heads
    (W Car.; cf. OLD HEADS] n. the younger generation: Y 'all wouldna know bout that—y'all is a set o' young heads (Nassau). cf. YOUNG BLOOD ...
  • young machioneel
    [from the belief that it is im-mature MANCHINEEL, a different sp. (Patterson p.c.)] n. a shrub, Grimrneodendron eglandulo-sum, with poisonous fruit: 1977 (Patterson 25). = ...
  • young moon
    [OED idem →1849] n. a new or waxing moon: 1977 A new moon, or young moon as we call it (Albury 23). = COMING MOON ...
  • yourns
    /yohnz/ [cf. Brit, dig. Mid, South yourn yours (Orton M78); US dial. yourn, you-own yours, you-uns' your ADD] poss. pron. yours: If I was you ...
  • Yucaya
    See LUCAYA. ...
  • yuck
    [cf. Brit. dial. North yuck to jerk; to pull or turn sharply; a jerk EDD; also US dial. South ADD] v. to seize; to pull ...
  • yuck somebody up (Gen.); yuck up somebody's vexation
    [cf. YUCK] phr. to annoy somebody: He does make me sick—he forever yucking up my vexation (Nassau). ...
  • yucksing /yóksin/, yooksing /yúksin/
    [cf. YUCK (/yuk/ in Brit. dial. North)] n. shooting marbles in a manner not permitted by the rules. (Black) ...
  • yucksome
    [cf. US slang yuck exclamation of dis-gust 1972 →BDNE II, but given its use by older Bah. speakers, the term may be related to YUCK ...
  • Yumeta
    [probably from Lucayan; possibly by confusion with YUMEY]   n., Obs. former name of Long Island: 1635 Yumeta (Atlas Novus). 1782 Yumeta (or Long Island) (Bruce ...
  • Yumey
    [from Lucayan; Y in 16th century Sp. may have represented a sound more like /zh/, and x was formerly used for /sh/; cf. spellings Xuma, ...