yank

noun

1. A sudden, vigorous pull (sometimes defined as mass times jerk, or rate of change of force).

   “He unjammed the rope with a short yank.”

2. (slang)An act of masturbation.

   “He rested his hand on his bare chest, an innocent enough spot, but soon it drifted of its own accord down his stomach to slide beneath the waistband of his briefs. Fine. A quick yank would relieve the sexual tension that simmered in him.”

3. (Multicultural-London-English, alt-of, alternative, slang)Alternative form of shank (“stabbing weapon”).

   “Tell my young bad, she can vouch for me I was only thirteen with a yank on me”

4. (alt-of, derogatory, often)Alternative letter-case form of Yank (“Yankee”).
5. (US)A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.

   “Halt! come down there, you Yanks, come down!”

   ““I do wish I might of found you in my sights when you was with them damn Yanks,” Abner added.”

   “Corporal Bob explained, “The Yanks has tha best weapons. But us Rebs know how to shoot tha damn things. […]””

6. (US, especially)A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.
7. (US, especially, historical)A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.
8. (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New-Zealand, UK, broadly, derogatory, slang, sometimes)A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.

   “The smart and inventive turn of the modern Yank has made him a specialist in ingenious devices, straight or crooked. Unpickable locks and invincible lock-pickers, burglar-proof safes and safe-specializing burglars, come equally from the States.”

   ““This time,” he General Alphonse-Pierre Juin] told the Yanks, “you have not crossed to win new victories but to preserve peace. […]””

verb

1. (transitive)To pull (something) with a quick, strong action.

   “Now a white-backed rams its head down the wildebeest’s throat and yanks out an eight-inch length of trachea, ribbed like a vacuum hose.”

   “[Regarding risks of AI] And you just have to have somebody close to the power cord. [Laughs.]^([sic]) Right when you see it about to happen, you gotta yank that electricity out of the wall, man.”

2. (informal, transitive)To remove; to recall or revoke.

   “They yanked the product as soon as they learned it was unsafe.”

   “The cops yanked my driver's license.”

3. (ambitransitive, slang)To masturbate.

   “In the dark protection of the auditorium and his Baltimore cape, with two coiled females only inches beneath his feet, completely in his power and ignorant of the invisible force that held them captive, only this shadow knew, the True Dildough, with great pleasure and tremendous gutsy motions, yanked his full-grown penis to a gigantically pleasurable orgasm.”