YOKE

A bar or frame of wood by which two oxen are joined at the heads or necks for working together. A yearling bullock to thy name shall smoke, Untamed, unconscious of the galling yoke. Pope.

A frame or piece resembling a yoke, as in use or shape. Specifically:

A frame of wood fitted to a person's shoulders for carrying pails, etc., suspended on each side; as, a milkmaid's yoke.

A frame worn on the neck of an animal, as a cow, a pig, a goose, to prevent passage through a fence.

A frame or convex piece by which a bell is hung for ringing it. See Illust. of Bell.

A crosspiece upon the head of a boat's rudder. To its ends lines are attached which lead forward so that the boat can be steered from amidships.

Fig.: That which connects or binds; a chain; a link; a bond connection. Boweth your neck under that blissful yoke . . . Which that men clepeth spousal or wedlock. Chaucer. This yoke of marriage from us both remove. Dryden.

A mark of servitude; hence, servitude; slavery; bondage; service. Our country sinks beneath the yoke. Shak. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matt. xi. 30.

Two animals yoked together; a couple; a pair that work together. I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. Luke xiv. 19.

The quantity of land plowed in a day by a yoke of oxen. [Obs.] Gardner.

A portion of the working day; as, to work two yokes, that is, to work both portions of the day, or morning and afternoon. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. Neck yoke, Pig yoke. See under Neck, and Pig. -- Yoke elm (Bot.), the European hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus), a small tree with tough white wood, often used for making yokes for cattle.

To put a yoke on; to join in or with a yoke; as, to yoke oxen, or pair of oxen.

To couple; to join with another. "Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers." 2 Cor. vi. 14. Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb. Shak.

To enslave; to bring into bondage; to restrain; to confine. Then were they yoked with garrisons. Milton. The words and promises that yoke The conqueror are quickly broke. Hudibras.

To be joined or associated; to be intimately connected; to consort closely; to mate. We 'll yoke together, like a double shadow. Shak.