Yellow a. and sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Yellow a. and sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1928, rev. 2024. Yellow a. and sb. Forms: α. 1 ʓelu, -o, ʓeolu, ʓeolo, ʓiolu, ʓeolw-, -uw-, -ew-, 2 ȝeoluw, ȝeolew, ȝeluw, 3 ȝeolu(h, ȝeleu, 4 ȝelew(e, ȝelugh(e, ȝelogh, ȝelowȝ, ȝelȝ, ȝelw, (ȝealwe), 4–5 ȝelwe, yelwe, ȝelou, ȝelow(e, 5 yelu, (ȝelhw(e, ȝelhew(e), 5–6 ȝellow, yelow(e, (6 ȝello, yelloo, yealow(e), 6–7 yellowe, (yeallow), 6– yellow (9 dial. and vulgar yeller). β. 2 ȝolewe, 4 ȝolȝe, yolwe, ȝolow, 5 yolgh, yolow, 5–6 yolowe, 6 yollow(e, yolo, 9 dial. yollo(w. γ. (chiefly Sc. and north. dial.) 4–5 ȝalou, 4–6 ȝalow, yalow, 5 ȝalowe, yalowe, ȝalwe, (ȝalo, yhalou), 5–7 ȝallow, 6 ȝallou, yallowe, (ȝallo, yalley), 7–9 dial. and vulgar yallow, (9 esp. U.S., yaller, yallah). δ. 4 yaulew, 6 yewlow, ewlow, yeolow, youlowe, jowllo. [OE. ʓeolu, -o = OS. gelo, (M)LG. gel, MDu. gel(e)u, geluw, geel (Du. geel, Flem. geluw, geelw, gilw), OHG. gelo, (MHG. gel, gelw-, G. gelb):— OTeut. *gelwa- :— Indo-eur. *ghelwo- (cf. L. helvus greyish yellow, Lith. želvas greenish).

1   For other derivatives of the Indo-eur. ghol-: ghel-: ghl-, see GALL sb.1, GOLD1, and cf. also L. holus vegetable, OIr. gel white, OSl. zelije cabbage, zelenŭ green, Skr. hári-, Zend zaranya-, Pers. zer gold, ON. gulr yellow.]

2   A.  adj.

3   1.  Of the color of gold, butter, the yolk of an egg, various flowers, and other objects; constituting one (the most luminous) of the primary colors, occurring in the spectrum between green and orange.

4   α.  Beowulf, 2610. Hond rond ʓefeng, ʓeolwe linde.

5 c. 700.  Epinal Gloss., 242. Crocus, ʓelu.

6 c. 725.  Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), C 876. Crucus, ʓelo. Ibid., F 219. Flabum, ʓeolu.

7 a. 900.  Leiden Riddle, 10. Uyrmas mec ni auefun uyrdi cræftum, ða ði ʓoelu godueb ʓeatum fraetuath.

8 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 51. Blake tadden … ȝeluwe froggen and crabben. Ibid., 53. Alswa doð monie or þas wimmen heo … claþeð heom mid ȝeoluwe claþe.

9 c. 1290.  St. Eustace, 182, in S. Eng. Leg., 398. With red heued, ȝeolu and crips.

10 1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3978. Þe ye þat ys ful of Iawnes, Alle þenkeþ hym ȝelogh yn hys auys.

11 c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 5881. Wyþ eȝene graye, and browes bent, And ȝealwe traces.

12 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 675. This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex [v.rr. ȝelw, ȝelowe, ȝalowe].

13 1431.  Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904), 27. Also j ȝelew cope of selk.

14 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 537/1. Ȝelhwe of colure (K., H. ȝelwe, S. ȝelhewe, P. ȝelowe colowre).

15 1523–34.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 14. Red otes are the beste otes, and whan they be thresshed, they be yelowe in the busshell.

16 1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., II. v. 166. Remember who commended thy yellow stockings, and wish’d to see thee euer crosse garter’d. Ibid. (1610), Temp., I. ii. 376. Come vnto these yellow sands.

17 1630.  Milton, On May Morning, 4. The yellow Cowslip, and the pale Primrose.

18 1784.  Cowper, Task, VI. 302. King-cups in the yellow mead.

19 1855.  Ht. Martineau, Autobiog. (1877), I. 383. Yellow as a guinea.

20 1860.  Fitz-Roy, in Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 342. A bright yellow sky at sunset presages wind.

21   β.  c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 53. Þe ȝolewe frogge.

22 1382.  Wyclif, Gen. xxx. 32. Seuer alle thi speckid sheep, and with speckyd flese, and what euere ȝolow.

23 a. 1400.  Pistill of Susan, 192. Hir hed was ȝolow as wyre Of gold fyned wiþ fyre.

24 c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 579. Ek best are hennis blake, & werst ar white And good ar yolgh.

25 1540.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 107. The sparver of buckeram yolowe and rede.

26 1571.  in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 146. One maske was yolowe.

27 1828.  Craven Gloss., 296. As yollo as a daffodowndilly.

28 1888.  Sheffield Gloss., Yollow, yellow.

29   γ.  c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxix. (Placidas), 23. Quhen for elde … his tetht waxis ȝalou with-al.

30 1397.  Priory of Finchale (Surtees), 117. j coopertorium cum rosys ȝalow.

31 c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), vii. 48. His Nekke is ȝalowe.

32 1483.  Cath. Angl., 425/1. Ȝalowe, aureus.

33 1500.  Ortus Vocab., Glaucus, ȝalo or yrne graye.

34 1535.  Coverdale, Jer. x. 9. Clothed with yalow sylck and scarlet.

35 1546.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 239. Too yalley coverlettes.

36 16[?].  Sir W. Mure, Sonn. to Margareit, ix. 10. Yallow curls of gold.

37 1863.  H. Kingsley, in Macm. Mag., Dec., 101/1. ‘Do you remember the lilies at Stanlake?’… ‘Acres on ’em…. Yallah ones as well.’

38   δ.  13[?].  Seuyn Sag. (W.), 477. Here yaulew here Out of the tresses sche hit tere.

39 1513.  Inv., in Archaeologia, LXVI. 343. A pece of youlowe lawne.

40 1541.  Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.), I. 80. iij old ewlow quishens. Ibid. (1550), II. 103. A yewlow coverlet.

41 1591.  Spenser, Ruins of Time, 10. Rending her yeolow locks.

42   b.  Of the complexion in age or disease; also as the color of faded leaves, ripe corn, old discolored paper, etc.; hence allusively.

43   The phrase in quot. 1605 has been freq. echoed.

44 c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 106. Wiþ þære ʓeolwan adle hune bisceop wyrt … menge þa togædere. Ibid., 348. Ʒif him biþ ælfsoʓoþa him beoþ þa eaʓan ʓeolwe þær hi reade beon sceoldon.

45 a. 1366[?].  Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 310. Sorowe, thought, and greet distresse,… Made hir ful yelwe [MS. yolare].

46 13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 951. Bot vn-lyke on to loke þo ladyes were, For if þe ȝonge was ȝep, ȝolȝe was þat oþer.

47 1422.  Yonge, trans. Secr. Secr., 222. Yolow coloure in the face meddelite with palnesse.

48 1590.  Greene, Never too late, Wks. (Grosart), VIII. 225. The riping corne growes yeolow in the stalke.

49 1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. ii. 204. Haue you not a moist eye? a dry hand? a yellow cheeke? a white beard? Ibid. (c. 1600), Sonn., civ. 5. Three Winters colde, Haue from the forrests shooke three summers pride, Three beautious springs to yellow Autumne turn’d. Ibid. (1605), Macb., V. iii. 23. My way of life Is falne into the Seare, the yellow Leafe.

50 1667.  Milton, P. L., XI. 435. The green Eare, and the yellow Sheaf.

51 1730–46.  Thomson, Autumn, 1322. When Autumn’s yellow lustre gilds the world.

52 1817.  Byron, Beppo, xcii. No, I never Saw a man grown so yellow! How’s your liver? Ibid. (1824), ‘’Tis time this heart,’ ii. My days are in the yellow leaf.

53 1836.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Sentiment. ‘The Misses Crumpton’ were … very upright, and very yellow.

54 1847.  Emerson, Repr. Men, Shakespeare, Wks. (Bohn), I. 358. They [sc. the Shakespeare Society] have left … no file of old yellow accounts to decompose … to discover whether the boy Shakespeare poached.

55 1849.  G. P. R. James, Woodman, vii. The yellow autumn time of the year.

56   † c.  With allusion to the use of yellow starch (colored with saffron). Obs.

57 1614.  Tomkis, Albumazar, II. i. (1615), D j. Trincalo, what price beare’s wheate, and Saffron, that your band’s so stiffe and yellow?

58 1616.  B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, I. i. Car-men Are got into the yellow starch.

59 1619.  Rich, Irish Hubbub, 4. Yellow bands are become so common, to euery young giddy-headed Gallant, and light-heel’d Mistresse, that me thinks a man should not hardly be hanged without a yellow band, a fashion so much in vse with the vaine fantasticke fooles of this age.

60 a. 1626.  Middleton, Widow, V. i. That Suit … will disgrace my Masters fashion for ever, and make it as hatefull as yellow bands.

61 c. 1645.  [see STARCH sb. 1].

62   d.  Having a naturally yellow skin or complexion, as the people of the Mongolian races; hence = MONGOLIAN 2, MONGOLOID 1. (Also applied in U.S. to mulattos or dark quadroons.)

63   In recent use also transf. in yellow peril and similar phrases, denoting a supposed danger of a destructive invasion of Europe by Asiatic peoples.

64 1834.  [see MONGOLIAN a. 2].

65 186[?].  Amer. Song, ‘Cheer up Sam,’ i. I lov’d a dark-eyed yellow girl, And thought that she lov’d me.

66 1892.  E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 5. The ‘yellow agony,’ as the Chinese, the best market gardeners in the world, are called.

67 1900.  Daily News, 21 July, 3/5. The ‘yellow peril’ in its most serious form.

68 1910.  Encycl. Brit., IX. 851/1. Mongolic or Yellow Man prevails over the vast area lying east of a line drawn from Lapland to Siam.

69   e.  Applied to naval captains retired as rear admirals in H. M. Fleet without being attached to a particular squadron (red, white, or blue). (Cf. YELLOW v.1 2 c.)

70 1788.  Parl. Hist., XXVII. 22. An establishment planned in 1747, for the maintenance and support of such officers as were passed by in a promotion of captains to flags, and this was the first (as it was commonly called) of Yellow admls.

71 1854.  De Quincey, War, Wks. 1862, IV. 264. That’s a sort of plagiarism from Themistocles…. I have as good a right to the words … as that most classical of yellow admirals.

72 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Yellow-admiral, a retired post captain, who, not having served his time in that rank, is not entitled to his promotion to the active flag.

73 1898.  Westm. Gaz., 11 July, 1/2. For the remainder of those in the senior rank there is … a prospect of their attaining the rank of fag officer with the ‘yellow’ attachment.

74   f.  transf. Dressed in yellow.

75 1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxvi. The yellow postillion was cracking his whip gently.

76   † 2.  fig. Affected with jealousy, jealous. (Cf. JAUNDICED 3.) Also in allusive phrases, as to wear yellow hose = to be jealous. Obs.

77 1602.  Middleton, Blurt, Master Constable, V. ii. Ha, ha, ha; by my ventoy (yellow Lady) you take your marke improper.

78 1607.  Dekker & Webster, Northw. Hoe, I. Wks. 1873, III. 14. Iealous men are eyther Knaues or Coxcombes, bee you neither: you weare yellow hose without cause.

79 1632.  Massinger & Field, Fatal Dowry, III. i. If my Lord Bee now growne yellow.

80 1665.  Brathwait, Comm. Two Tales (1900), 47. Your yellow humour interprets this to be too much familiarity.

81 c. 1680.  Roxb. Ball. (1874), II. 61. Why, therefore, Shouldst thou deplore, Or weare stockings that are yellow?

82 c. 1680.  Man’s Felicity, xiii. My Wife will wear no yellow hose.

83 1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Yellow, jealous; a jealous husband is called a yellow gloak.

84 1858.  [H. Aïdé], Rita, xvi. Well, the filly’s cut you out, Rita: won in a canter, you see! You’ve got to wear the yellow shoes, and all your own fault.

85   3.  (orig. U.S.) Applied to newspapers (or writers of newspaper articles) of a recklessly or unscrupulously sensational character.

86   A use derived from the appearance in 1895 of a number of the New York World in which a child in a yellow dress (‘The Yellow Kid’) was the central figure of the cartoon, this being an experiment in color-printing designed to attract purchasers.

87 1898.  Daily News, 2 March, 7/2. The yellow Press is for a war with Spain, at all costs and hazards.

88 1898.  Eliz. L. Banks, in 19th Cent., Aug., 328. All American journalism is not ‘yellow,’ though all strictly ‘up-to-date’ yellow journalism is American! Ibid., 332. Its [sc. New York Journal] Sunday editions, with its ‘yellow kids’ and ‘blackberry blossoms’ and various other ‘special features.’ Ibid. (1902), Newspaper Girl, xviii. The very first thing I was asked to do in the line of ‘yellow’ work was to walk along Broadway at midnight and ‘allow’ myself to be arrested.

89 1906.  Times (weekly ed.), 9 Nov., 714. The President of the United States sent his Secretary of State to New York to throw the whole weight of Mr. Roosevelt’s … authority and influence against the ‘yellow’ candidate [sc. Hearst].

90   B.  sb.

91   1.  The color described in YELLOW a. 1, or a shade, pigment, fabric or stuff of this color.

92 1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3446. Ȝelugh vnder ȝelugh þey hyde.

93 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Nun’s Pr. T., 82. His colour was bitwixe yelow [v.r. ȝelw] and reed.

94 1396–7.  Durhamn Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 214. [Hangings] cum avibus de yalow.

95 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 5462. All hor colouris to ken were of clene yalow.

96 c. 1450.  in Maitl. Club Misc., III. 199. Courtenes of singill worsat palyt of red and grein and yhalou.

97 c. 1532.  in E. Law, Hampton Crt. Palace (1885), 363. For 4000 flemyshe pavyng tyll of grene and jowllo.

98 1541.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 135. A crose of yolowe opone his brest.

99 a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 227. Quene Anne ware yelowe for the mournyng.

100 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 133 b. The sicknesse of the Gall … is also discerned by the browne yellowes vnder the vpper lippe.

101 1600.  Nashe, Summer’s Last Will, B 3 b, Wks. (Grosart), VI. 94. To weare the blacke and yellow [rhyme followe].

102 1609.  B. Jonson, Silent Wom., I. iv. Wee doe beare for our Coat Yellow, or Or, checker’d Azure, and Gules.

103 1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., Prol. 16. A long Motley Coate, garded with Yellow.

104 1633.  Bp. Hall, Occas. Medit. (ed. 3), § 54. I doe not like these reds, and blewes, and yellowes, amongst these plaine stalkes and eares.

105 c. 1665.  in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 275. Ribband knots for her head of sky collor, or yallow.

106 1715.  Addison, Freeholder, No. 10. 60. When he appear’d in Yellow, his Great Men hid themselves in Corners.

107 1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 58. The narrow lane bordered with elms, whose fallen leaves have made the road one yellow.

108 1859.  Gullick & Timbs, Painting, 224. The ochres are the most permanent yellows.

109 1889.  J. K. Jerome, Three Men in Boat, vii. His complexion is too dark for yellows. Yellows don’t suit him.

110   b.  With qualifying words, denoting different shades of the color, as brass-, bronze, canary-, gold-, Isabella-, lemon-, primrose, rust-, straw-, sulphur- (etc.) yellow, or various pigments and dyes, as aniline y., Chinese y., cobalt y., imperial y, Indian y., King’s y., Mars y., Naples y., strontian y., etc., for which see the first element.

111 1532.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VI. 23. Tway elnis franche ȝallow to lyne the said cote.

112 1794.  Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 89. Isabella yellow.

113 1805–17.  R. Jameson, Char. Min. (ed. 3), 69. Brass-yellow, gold-yellow, and bronze-yellow.

114 1831–3.  Barlow, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 539/1. A yellow termed rust yellow is made with acetate of iron thickened with gum for light yellows.

115 1899.  Daily News, 29 Dec., 5/1. Martius’s yellow. This substance has many an alias, some alluring, some otherwise, golden yellow, Manchester yellow, saffron yellow, nap[h]thalene yellow.

116   † c.  allusively, as the color attributed to jealousy: cf. A. 2. Obs.

117 1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., II. iii. 107. If thou hast The ordering of the Mind too, mongst all Colours No Yellow in’t.

118   2.  Denoting various objects of a yellow color, as the yolk of an egg, the stigmas of the saffron crocus (quot. 1587), a yellow carriage (quot. 1833), or any yellow substance, as sulphur (quot. 1649), old faded paper; also ellipt. for a yellow variety of any flower, fruit, root, etc.

119 c. 700.  Epinal Gloss., 429. Fitilium [Erfurt vitellus], æʓerʓelu.

120 c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 22. Ʒenim æʓes þæt ʓeoluwe & meng lythwon wið huniʓ. Ibid., 130. Banwyrt do on sure fletan & on huniʓ æʓes ʓeola, meng tosomne, smire mid.

121 1587.  Harrison, England, III. viii. 232/2, in Holinshed. In euerie floure [of saffron] we finde commonlie three chiues, and three yellowes.

122 1649.  Woodstock Scuffle, xxiv. The men were frighted, and did smell O’ th’ yellow.

123 1738.  Deering, Cat. Stirp., 149. Napus sylvestris.… Flowers in June and July, very common on Banksides, and among the Corn too plentifully, the Country People here call them the Yellows.

124 1833.  T. Hook, Parson’s Dau., II. vii. The arrival … of Lady Frances Sheringham herself and her maid, in a ‘yellow and two.’

125 1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 14. The yellows [sc. turnips] then follow, and last for about 2 months.

126 a. 1845.  Syd. Smith, in Lady Holland, Mem. (1855), I. 373. To make this condiment, your poet begs The pounded yellow of two hard-boil’d eggs.

127 1849.  Cupples, Green Hand, xvi. As he [sc. the aged nigger] sat … leering out of the yellows of his eyes.

128 1886.  C. Scott, Sheep-farming, 43. Yellows or swedes.

129   b.  A particular yellow species or variety of bird, butterfly (= SULPHUR 5 a), or moth.

130 1816.  Stephens, in Shaw, Gen. Zool., IX. II. 464. [American Gold-finches] are called York Yellows.

131 1855.  Poultry Chron., II. 515. Tumblers, Blues, Blacks, Silver, Yellows.

132 1880.  A. H. Swinton, Insect Variety, 51. Our English Clouded Yellows.

133 1896.  W. F. Kirby, Handbk. Order Lepidopt., II. 214. Both our Clouded Yellows are very rare in Scandinavia.

134   3.  A person of one of the yellow races (see A. 1 d); a Mongolian. Only pl. (Cf. black, white.)

135 1808.  C. Schultz, Jr., Trav. (1810), II. 198. In attending to the amusements of the whites, the yellows, and the blacks, I had almost forgotten to mention the reds.

136 1886.  Cornh. Mag., July, 50. The ‘whites’ have made a complete surrender to the ‘yellows.’

137 1901.  H. N. G. Bushby, in 19th. Cent., May, 837. If they [sc. Japanese] are to colonise at all they must colonise among the yellows and the blacks.

138   4.  As the color of a party badge; hence transf. an adherent of a party whose color is yellow.

139 1755.  Gentl. Mag., Aug., 339/2. The blues being in the old interest, and the yellows in the new.

140 1868.  Holme Lee, B. Godfrey, li. He would not vote yellow.

141 1887.  [see BLUE sb. 8].

142   5.  A ‘yellow’ journal or writer: see A. 3.

143 1898.  Daily News, 27 July, 4/7. This deliberate attempt to stir up animosities and foment an outbreak is worthy of ‘the yellows’ at their worst.

144 1901.  R. A. Stevenson, in Scribner’s Mag., April, 408/2. The killing at the Vulcan Shops made the yellows froth head-lines.

145   ***  For specialized uses of the plural in singular sense, see YELLOWS.

146   C.  Collocations and Combinations.

147   1.  Special collocations. a. In names of species or varieties of animals distinguished by their yellow color or coloring: as yellow ant, baboon, bass, bittern, boa, chatterer, fly, fly-catcher, grosbeak, perch, redpoll, tanager, underwing, wagtail, warbler, weasel, woodpecker, yite, for which see the sbs.; also yellow dog, (a) (see quot. c. 1770); (b) U.S. colloq. (see quot. 1860); Yellow Sally, name for a species of stone-fly used as a bait by anglers; see also YELLOW-BIRD, YELLOW-FISH, YELLOW-HAMMER. b. In names of plants distinguished by having flowers (or sometimes fruit, wood, etc.) of a yellow color: as yellow archangel, balsam, bedstraw, bugle, camomile, centaury, cress, crocus, daffodil, dead-nettle, fir, flag, gentian, gilliflower, gold (GOLD2), gowan, jasmine, loosestrife, medick, ox-eye, pearmain, pimpernel, pine, poplar, poppy, rattle, rocket, rose, sedge, succory, sultan, thistle, vetch, vetchling, water-cress, water-lily, for which see the sbs.; also yellow-weed, (a) dial. dyer’s-weed, Reseda Lutcola; (b) common ragwort, Senecio Jacobæa; (c) in U.S. a name for some species of golden-rod (Solidago); yellow-wort, a gentianaceous plant, Chlora perfoliata, having bright yellow flowers and yielding a yellow dye; yellow centaury. c. In names of minerals, and of chemical or other products, of a yellow color: as yellow arsenic, copper, copperas, corallin, jasper, lake (LAKE sb.6 3), ochre, orpiment, quartz, sandalwood, sanders, ultramarine, wash, wax, for which see the sbs.; also yellow bark, any variety of Peruvian bark of a yellow color, as Calisaya bark; yellow berries, the fruit of Rhamnus infectorius and other species, yielding a yellow dye; also called Persian berries; yellow deal, the wood of the Scotch fir, Pinus sylvestris; yellow earth, † (a) a generic term for minerals or ‘earths’ of a yellow color; (b) a yellowish clay, colored by iron, used as a pigment; a variety of bole; yellow metal, an alloy of two parts of copper and one of zinc, used for sheathing vessels; yellow ore, yellow copper ore, copper pyrites (see COPPER sb.1 12); yellow share, ? sb. or a. (? obs.) [cf. REDSHIRE, -SHARE], a name or epithet for a brittle or friable iron ore (see quot.); yellow soap, a common soap made of tallow, rosin, and soda; hence yellow-soap v. trans. (nonce-wd.), to wash or rub with yellow soap; yellow ware, yellow earthenware or stoneware; yellow wove (see quot.). d. In names of diseases characterized by yellowness of the skin, or of some tissue, secretion, etc.: as yellow jaundice (see JAUNDICE), softening, typhus; (acute) yellow atrophy, ‘atrophy and yellow discoloration of the liver with jaundice’ (Dorland s.v. Atrophy); † yellow evil, jaundice, or (app.) some epidemic disease of which jaundice was a symptom; yellow gum, jaundice in infants, characterized by yellowness of the gums; Yellow Jack, yellow jack, a slang name for yellow fever; yellow plague = yellow evil; yellow sickness, (a) = prec.; (b) a disease of hyacinth-plants (see quot. 1887); † yellow sought [SOUGHT sb.], jaundice: see also YELLOW FEVER. e. Miscellaneous: yellow admiral (see A. 1 e); yellow cartilage Anat., cartilage containing yellow fibres, elastic cartilage; yellow cell Biol., one of the small yellow bodies found in many radiolarians, now held to be symbiotic algæ; yellow dirt, a contemptuous appellation for gold; yellow fibre Anat., one of the elastic fibers of a yellow color occurring in certain tissues (so yellow fibrous tissue = yellow tissue); yellow flag, a flag of a yellow color displayed on board ship, formerly as a signal of capital punishment, now as a signal of infectious disease or of quarantine, and hoisted in war time on hospitals, etc. Yellow George (see GEORGE 4 b); yellow-man, † (a) a yellow silk handkerchief (slang); (b) a man of the ‘yellow’ or Mongolian race (see A. 1 d); yellow peril (see A. 1 d); yellow press (see A. 3); yellow rain = sulphur rain (see SULPHUR sb. 8); yellow spot Anat., a yellowish circular depression in the middle of the retina, being the region of most distinct vision; yellow stick (see quots.); yellow tissue Anat., tissue containing yellow fibres, elastic tissue. See also YELLOW-BOY.

148 1815.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., x. (1818), I. 310. Piso speaks of yellow *ants called Cupiá inhabiting Brazil.

149 1864–5.  Wood, Homes without H., vii. (1868), 129. The common Yellow Ant (Formica flava) so abundant in marshes and gardens.

150 1845.  Budd, Dis. Liver, 204. The yellow *atrophy is distinguished by a deep yellow colour; imbibition of the whole tissue of the organ with bile [etc.].

151 1796.  Nemnich, Polygl.-Lex., 960. Yellow *bark.

152 1837, 1875.  [see CALISAYA].

153 1838.  Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 802. The yellow bark is the most employed, and most highly esteemed in this country. It is the bark of the cinchona cordifolia of Mutis.

154 1888.  Goode, Amer. Fishes, 33. Another species which closely resembles the Striped Bass is the Morone interrupta, generally known as the Yellow *Bass.

155 1712.  trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 13. The Yellow *Berry is the Fruit of a Shrub which Authors call Licium.

156 1812.  J. Smyth, Pract. Customs (1821), 46. Yellow Berries are the fruit of a species of Lycium, growing plentifully in different parts of France…. It is much used by the Dyers and Painters.

157 1776.  Pennant, Brit. Zool., I. 276. Yellow *Bunting…; the crown of the head is of a pleasant pale yellow.

158 1548.  Turner, Names Herbes (E.D.S.), 14. The secund [kind of Camomile] is called in greke chrysanthemon … it maye be called in englishe yealowe *camomyle.

159 1883.  Garden, 29 July, 85/2. The Yellow Camomile … seems to be almost unknown.

160 1879.  trans. Semper’s Anim. Life, 74. Most of the Radiolaria … bear in their body certain … particles known as the yellow *cells.

161 1796.  Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), II. 140. Yellow *Copper Ore. Copper Pyrites.

162 1876.  Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 488/1. Yellow copper is more brittle, stiffer, and less malleable [than the red].

163 1548.  Turner, Names Herbes (E.D.S.), 55. Plenie maketh mention of a kynde called Narcissus herbaceus, whiche is after my iudgement our yealowe *daffodyl.

164 1766.  Complete Farmer, s.v. Trellis, Trellises … being generally made of regularly cut yellow-*deal, or oak.

165 1753.  A. Murphy, Gray’s Inn Jrnl., No. 42. Convenience stamped an imaginary Value upon yellow *Dirt.

166 1794.  Charlotte Smith, Wand. Warwick, 152. While you hesitate about receiving from me a little yellow dirt, for which I have no use.

167 c. 1770.  T. Fairfax, Compl. Sportsman, 97. Yellow *dogs, are those which have red hairs, inclining to brown.

168 1840.  Daily Pennant (St. Louis), 20 April (Thornton, Amer. Gloss.). One of those interesting animals, a yellow dog, with a bullet-hole through his breast.

169 1860.  O. W. Holmes, Elsie V., iii. A ‘yallah dog’ is a large canine brute, of a dingy old-flannel colour, of no particular breed except his own.

170 1895.  Bret Harte, Clarence, III. iii. In Illinois we wouldn’t hang a yellow dog on that evidence.

171 1552.  Huloet, Yellow *earth founde in the mynes of golde or syluer, sandaraca.

172 1688.  Holme, Armoury, II. 38/2. Yellow earth, as Durry, Yellow Occar, Sand.

173 1794.  Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 194. This yellow earth differs from ochres only in containing a greater proportion of argill.

174 1883.  Encycl. Brit., XVI. 425/1. Bole … Stolpenite, Rock Soap, Plinthite, Yellow Earth or Felinite, Fetbol, and Ochran are varieties.

175 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 113. Afterward fel a pestilence in to al Wales of þe ȝelowe *yuel þat is i-cleped þe iaundys.

176 1494.  [see JAUNDICE 1 β].

177 1667.  Primatt, City & C. Builder, 61. Yellow *Fir, called Dram,… is the best sort of Fir for flooring.

178 1882.  Garden, 30 Sept., 301/3. The principal tree in these forests is the yellow Fir.

179 1783.  Ann. Reg., Chron., 213/2. The other three were hanged … a yellow *flag was flying from each ship during the execution.

180 1805.  Act 45 Geo. III., c. 10 § 14. If the said ship … have a clean bill of health, a large yellow flag of six breadths of bunting at the main-topmast head.

181 1836.  Mrs. C. P. Traill, Backwoods of Canada, 19. [Our ship bears] the melancholy symbol of disease, the yellow flag.

182 1863.  Ann. Reg., For. Hist., 326. The yellow flag, ordinarily held so sacred in modern war, has … been but the mark for the hottest and most deadly fire.

183 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Yellow-flag, the signal of quarantine.

184 1750.  G. Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, III. Index, 243. The great Yellow *Fly with black Spots.

185 1902.  Westm. Gaz., 30 May, 2/1. A banded yellow-fly.

186 c. 1386.  Yelewe *gooldes [see GOLD2 1].

187 1625.  B. Jonson, Pan’s Anniv., Wks. (1641), I. 119. Gladdest myrtle for these postes to weare … star’d with yellow-golds, and Meadowes Queene.

188 1783.  Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, III. 139. Yellow *Grosbeak … head, neck, breast, belly, and vent, yellow…. Inhabits Asia.

189 1799.  Underwood, Dis. Childhood (ed. 4), I. 26. Nurses have usually accounted the yellowness that appears about the third day after birth, if unusually deep (termed by some the yellow *gum) as the true jaundice.

190 1836.  E. Howard, R. Reefer, xxxiii. Misgivings about Yellow *Jack.

191 1857.  Kingsley, Two Y. Ago, iv. Have seen three choleras, two army fevers, and yellow-jack without end.

192 1897.  Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 1. I knew a good deal … of South East America, and remembered that Yellow Jack was endemic.

193 1821.  Sporting Mag. (N.S.), IX. 27. A prime yellow-*man round his squeeze.

194 1823.  ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, s.v. John Gully introduced the yellowman.

195 1898.  Westm. Gaz., 5 Jan., 1/2. Convinced free-traders from the Colonies … draw the line at the free invasion of the Yellow-man.

196 1647.  in W. M. Williams, Ann. Founders’ Co. (1867), 103. Wayghtes of Brass … shall not … be … made of any worse Brass than Yellow *Mettell.

197 1860.  Merc. Marine Mag., VII. 284. A ship fastened with yellow metal ought not to be put under the head of ‘copper fastened.’

198 1878.  Ure, Dict. Arts, IV. Yellow-metal sheathing.

199 1481–90.  Yelu *okyr [see OCHRE sb. 1].

200 1599.  in Archaeologia, LXIV. 384. For too pounde of yellow Oker for the said seeling iiij d.

201 1799.  G. Smith, Laboratory, I. 185. Take yellow ochre, neal it well, and it will turn to a brown red.

202 1899.  Cagney, trans. von Jaksch’s Clin. Diagn. (ed. 4), 143. The expectoration, which was of a yellow-ochre tint.

203 1843.  R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxix. 391. The ulcer was dressed with yellow *ointment.

204 1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., Yellow-*ore … Chalcopyrite.

205 1819.  Lingard, Hist. Eng., I. ii. 108. A pestilence of the most fatal description (it was called the yellow *plague) depopulated the island.

206 1887.  [see PLAGUE sb. 3 b].

207 1891.  Cent. Dict., s.v. Rain, Sulphur-rain or yellow *rain is a similar precipitation of the pollen of fir-trees, etc.

208 1903.  Daily Chron., 5 March, 5/2. The phenomenon of ‘yellow rain’ was observed at some of the southern … stations.

209 1855.  Kingsley, Glaucus (1859), 195. The delicate lemon-coloured ‘Yellow Sally’ (Chrysoperla viridis).

210 1867.  F. Francis, Bk. Angling, vi. (1880), 231. The Yellow Sally … has … a high character with some anglers.

211 1686.  Plot, Staffordsh., 160. The first and meanest whereof [sc. Iron Ore], they call yellow *share an ill sort that runs all to dirt and is good for nothing … this sort some others are please’d to call Redshare.

212 1747.  Carte, Hist. Eng., I. 214, note. The yellow *sickness, a pestilential distemper which is mentioned by abundance of ancient writers, as laying Wales almost desolate.

213 1807.  Ess. Highl. Soc., III. 437, note. Yellows,… Yellow sickness, or Jaundice.

214 1887.  Garnsey & Balfour, trans. De Bary’s Fungi, 482. A disease in the hyacinth known in Holland as the yellow sickness, the characteristic symptom of which is the presence of yellow slimy masses of Bacteria in the vessels.

215 1813.  Gentl. Mag., Jan., 93/1. *Soap, Yellow, 104s. Mottled 114s.

216 1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxv. Applying plenty of yellow soap to the towel, and rubbing away, till his face shone again. Ibid. (1835), Sk. Boz, Parish, vi. The children were yellow-*soaped and flannelled, and towelled, till their faces shone again.

217 1845.  Yellow *softening [see SOFTENING vbl. sb. 1 b].

218 1873.  T. H. Green, Introd. Pathol. (ed. 2), 42. Yellow Softening…, in which, from the fine state of division and close aggregation of the fatty particles, a dead yellowish-white colour is imparted to the softened tissue.

219 14[?].  Ȝalow *souȝt [see SOUGHT sb.].

220 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, I. ii. 6. The infusion … cureth the Iaundise or Yealowsought.

221 1869.  Huxley, Physiol., ix. (ed. 3), 241. Exactly opposite the middle of the posterior wall, it [sc. the retina] presents a slight circular depression of a yellowish hue, the macula lutea, or yellow *spot.

222 1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 730. Ophthalmoscopic examination reveals a peculiar … appearance in the region of each yellow spot.

223 1861.  Macleod, Devot. to B.V.M., in N. Amer., 342, note. Hebridean Protestants … are … called Protestants of the Yellow *Stick.

224 1880.  W. G. Blaikie, Life Livingstone, i. 3. A tradition that the people of the island [Ulva] were converted from being Roman Catholics ‘by the laird coming round with a man having a yellow staff,… the new religion went long afterwards … by the name of the religion of the yellow stick.’

225 1876.  Quain, Anat. (ed. 8), II. 67. Yellow or Elastic *Tissue.

226 1822–34.  Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), I. 585. Typhus icterodes or yellow *typhus.

227 1827.  Lytton, Pelham, lxiii. A comfortless sort of dressing room,… where I found a yellow-*ware jug and basin.

228 1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 332. Yellow *weed, Reseda.

229 1853.  G. Johnston, Bot. E. Borders, 111. S[enecio] Jacobæa. Ragwort: Yellow-weed.

230 1834.  Miller, Plant-n., Reseda Luteola … Dyer’s-Rocket, Dyer’s-weed, Dyer’s Yellow-weed,… Yellow-weed.

231 1789.  Pilkington, View Derbysh., I. 384. Chlora perfoliata, perforated [sic] *Yellow-Wort.

232 1859.  Stationers’ Handbk., 12. In woven papers may be mentioned Blue Wove—that is, a paper of woven texture, but blue in colour; then comes another, which, although in point of fact white, or an extremely pale cast of blue, is termed Yellow *Wove.

233   2.  Combinations. a. Qualifying other adjs. (or sbs.) of color (= yellowish, inclining to or tinged with yellow): as yellow-black, -brown, -dun, -green, -grey, -olive, -red, -white; also occas. other adjs., as yellow-ripe.

234   In OE. expressed by ʓeolu in comb. or by the adv. ʓeolwe, as ʓeoluréad, ʓeolwe réad.

235 1841.  Clough, Poems, Song of Autumn, 5. My gay green leaves are *yellow-black, Upon the dank autumnal floor.

236 1795.  Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), IV. 177. Pileus *yellow brown.

237 1859.  Geo. Eliot, in Cross, Life (1885), II. 109. The rich yellow-brown of the oaks.

238 1639.  T. de Grey, Compl. Horsem., 59. The horse which is milke white, *yellow-dunne, sanded or pie-bald.

239 1832.  Lytton, Eugene Aram, I. ix. He … drew up his line, and replaced the contemned beauty of the violet-fly with the novel attractions of the yellow-dun.

240 1837.  Kirkbride, Northern Angler, 32. The Yellow Dun … makes its appearance on the northern rivers some time in May.

241 1768.  G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, 17 Aug. The *yellow-green of the whole upper part of the body is more vivid.

242 1816.  Stephens, in Shaw, Gen. Zool., IX. II. 404. Upper part of the back and scapulars yellow-green.

243 a. 1887.  Jefferies, Field & Hedgerow (1889), 269. The broad descending surfaces of yellow-green oak.

244 1811.  Shaw, Gen. Zool., VII. 465. *Yellow-olive Parrakeet.

245 c. 1050.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 437/20. Lutea, þæt *ʓiolureade.

246 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xiv. (Tollem. MS.). Yf þey ben browne in coloure, oþer citryn ȝolwer[e]de.

247 1819.  Stephens, in Shaw, Gen. Zool., XI. II. 324. The breast is yellow-red.

248 1886.  R. F. Burton, Arab. Nts. (abr. ed.), III. 3. All manner trees bearing *yellow-ripe fruits.

249 1614.  Sylvester, Parl. Vertues Royall, 1288. Her *yellow-sallow skin.

250 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 163/21. Giluus, ʓeoluhwit.

251 1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. i. 337. A Hen that fain would hatch a Brood … Sits close thereon, and with her lively heat, Of yellow-white bals, doth live birds beget.

252 1891.  Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xli. That yellow-white plant, which grows on an old oak in the wood.

253 1898.  Eliz. & her German Garden 55. Coral-pink petals, paling … to a yellow-white.

254   b.  Parasynthetic and instrumental combs. (many of which are used in the names of species or varieties of animals or plants): as yellow-backed, -banded, -barked, -barred, -bellied, -billed, -blossomed, -bodied, -breasted, -browed, -checked, -chinned, -colored, -covered, -crested, -crowned, -faced, -finned, -flagged, -fleshed, -flowered, -flowering, -footed, -fringed, -fronted, -girted, -gloved, -haired, -headed, -hilted, -horned, -jerkined, -leaved, -legged, -lit, -locked, -lustred, -maned, -marked, -painted, -pinioned, -ringed, -ringleted, -robed, -rumped, -sealed, -shafted, -shanked, -shouldered, -skinned, -skirted, -spotted, -sprinkled, -stained, -tailed, -throated, -tinged, -tinging, -toed, -tressed, -vented, -wamed (Sc. = -bellied), -washed, -winged, etc., adjs. Also YELLOW-HAIRED.

255 1783.  Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, IV. 440. *Yellow-backed Warbler.

256 1874.  Baily’s Mag., Jan., 346. One or two yellow-backed railway novels.

257 1833.  Tennyson, Eleänore, 22. The *yellow-banded bees.

258 1611.  Cotgr., Saulx vitelline,… *yellow-barked Willow.

259 1824.  Loudon, Green-house Comp., I. 68. Yellow-barked shoots and leaves.

260 1832.  J. Rennie, Butterf. & Moths, 174. The *Yellow-barred Iron … occurs in woods.

261 1752.  Hill, Hist. Anim., 328. The *yellow-beaked, American Owl.

262 1709.  T. Robinson, Nat. Hist. Westmld., x. 60. The Male is grey, the Female *yellow-bellied.

263 1783.  Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, III. 42. Yellow-bellied Thrush … the under parts of the body of a pale rusty yellow. Ibid. (1822), Gen. Hist. Birds, II. 331. *Yellow-billed Horn-bill.

264 1859.  Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, I. vi. Turning even the muddy water … into a mirror for the yellow-billed ducks.

265 1764.  Goldsm., Trav., 292. The *yellow-blossom’d vale.

266 1852.  Mundy, Antipodes (1857), 31. The delicate yellow-blossomed acacia.

267 1752.  Hill, Hist. Anim., 30. The black and *yellow-bodied Œstrus.

268 1864–5.  Wood, Homes without H., vi. 139. To see the yellow-bodied Wasp … dart into the dark mass.

269 1730.  Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 432. The *Yellow-breasted Chat.

270 1776.  Brown, Illustr. Zool., 80. The yellow-breasted Flycatcher.

271 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 313. The yellow-breasted martin was still pursued in Cranbourne Chase for his fur.

272 1783.  Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, IV. 459. *Yellow-browed Warbler.

273 1872.  Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 419/1. White petaled, *yellow-centred flowers.

274 1765.  Layard, in Phil. Trans., LVI. 13. A rusty *yellow-colored crust covering the stalactites.

275 1776.  Brown, Illustr. Zool., 24. The *Yellow-crested Woodpecker.

276 1894.  A. Robertson, Nuggets, 127. A flock of yellow-crested cockatoos.

277 1776.  Brown, Illustr. Zool., 50. *Yellow crowned Thrush.

278 1817.  Stephens, in Shaw, Gen. Zool., X. 623. Yellow-crowned Warbler.

279 1752.  Hill, Hist. Anim., 322. The *yellow-eyed Owl.

280 1845–50.  Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., App. 187. Xyris … caroliniana (yellow-eyed grass).

281 1592.  Nashe, P. Penilesse, Wks. (Grosart), II. 27. In praise of Lady Swin-snout, his *yeolow-fac’d Mistres.

282 1758.  G. Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist., I. 49. The Yellow-faced Parrakeet.

283 1811.  Shaw, Gen. Zool., VIII. 445. Yellow-faced Parrakeet. Ibid. (1804), V. 176. *Yellow-finned Herring.

284 1868.  J. E. Ollivant, trans. P. Kollonitz’s Crt. Mexico, 16. The *yellow-flagged boat of the quarantine lay-to at our side.

285 1885–94.  R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, Dec. 12. The *yellow-fleecèd flocks.

286 1859.  Darwin, Orig. Spec., iv. (1860), 85. Another disease attacks *yellow-fleshed peaches far more than those with other coloured flesh.

287 1721.  Mortimer, Husb., II. 239. The Toad Flax of Valentia is *yellow-Flowered.

288 1845.  Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), VI. 270. A yellow-flowered Sea-Lavender is a rarity.

289 1888.  J. & E. R. Pennell, Sent. Journ., 11. Across the yellow flowered sand dunes.

290 1832.  Veg. Subst. Food of Man, 213. The *yellow flowering pea.

291 1894.  Lydekker, Marsupialia, 172. *Yellow-footed Pouched Mouse, Phascologale flavipes.

292 1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 221. The *Yellow-fringed White [Moth] (Y[psolophus] flaviciliatus).

293 1781.  Pennant, Gen. Birds, 62. *Yellow-fronted Honey-Sucker.

294 1783.  Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, IV. 461. Yellow-fronted Warbler. The forehead and crown are of a bright yellow.

295 1901.  Nature, 19 Sept., 523/2. A Yellow-fronted Amazon (Chrysotis ochrocephala) from Guiana.

296 1880.  Daily News, 16 Aug., 6/5. The great four-masted *yellow-funnelled White Star liner steams slowly in.

297 1818.  Keats, Endym., I. 253, *Yellow girted bees.

298 1771.  Smollett, Humphry Cl., II. 10 June, let. i. It was the singularity in S——’s conduct that reconciled him to the *yellow-gloved philosopher.

299 1743.  G. Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, 44. The *Yellow-headed Linnet. This Bird being of kin to Linnets or Canary-Birds, I choose to call it by this Name.

300 1783.  Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, IV. 401. Yellow-headed Wagtail.

301 1787.  Hawkins, Life of Johnson, 233. A long *yellow-hilted sword.

302 1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 83. The *Yellow-horned [Moth] (C[eropacha] flavicornis) … antennæ yellow.

303 1860.  Motley, Netherl., ii. I. 35. Battling … breast to breast with the *yellow-jerkined pikemen of Spain and Italy.

304 1766.  Complete Farmer, s.v. Purslane, The red or *yellow leaved, commonly called golden purslane.

305 1824.  Longf., Autumn, 20. Maple yellow-leaved.

306 1752.  Hill, Hist. Anim., 340. The *yellow-legged Falco.

307 1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. viii. A … bystander, *yellow-legginged and purple-faced.

308 1877.  Black, Green Past., vi. Asleep in the hushed *yellow-lit room.

309 1697.  Dryden, Æneis, X. 786. Camers the *yellow Lock’d.

310 1878.  Longf., Kéramos, 182. A ground of deepest blue With *yellow-lustred stars o’erlaid.

311 1863.  W. C. Baldwin, Afr. Hunting, ix. 416. He was only a *yellow-maned one [sc. lion].

312 1783.  Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, III. 337. *Yellow-necked Flycatcher.

313 1861.  W. F. Collier, Hist. Eng. Lit., 104. Those *yellow-painted wooden caravans.

314 1735.  Somerville, Chase, I. 243. His glossy Skin, or *Yellow-py’d, or blue.

315 1624.  Heriot, in Mem. (1822), App. III. 98. My *yellow-pointed diamond-ring.

316 1880.  A. H. Swinton, Insect Variety, 94. The groups of *Yellow-ringed Gnats.

317 1864.  Tennyson, Boadicea, 55. Thither at their will they haled the *yellow-ringleted Britoness.

318 1889.  S. Langdon, Appeal to Serpent, iii. 50. A long procession of *yellow-robed … monks.

319 1758.  G. Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist., I. 97. The *Yellow-rumped Fly-catcher.

320 1808–13.  A. Wilson, Amer. Ornith. (1832), I. 280. Yellow-rumped Warbler.—Sylvia Coronata.

321 1841.  *Yellow-sealed [see yellow-seal in c].

322 1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, xi. My *yellow-sealed wine, which costs me ten shillings a bottle.

323 1822.  Latham, Gen. Hist. Birds, III. 410. *Yellow-shafted Woodpecker;… tail dusky yellow, with black spots, and yellow shafts.

324 1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 248. A *yellow-skinned chicken makes the most delicate roast.

325 1629.  Milton, Hymn Nativ., xxvi. The *yellow-skirted Fayes.

326 1869.  ‘Mark Twain,’ Innoc. Abr., vii. 43. The tall *yellow-splotched hills.

327 1828.  Latham, Index Gen. Hist. Birds, III. Woodpecker, *yellow spotted.

328 1853.  Mrs. Gaskell, Cranford, xiii. The yellow-spotted lilac gown.

329 1619.  Rich, Irish Hubbub, 4. A *yellow-starcht band about his necke.

330 1758.  G. Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist., I. 101. The *Yellow-tailed Fly-catcher.

331 1823.  Latham, Gen. Hist. Birds, VI. 232. Yellow-tailed Warbler.

332 a. 1749.  M. Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina (1754), I. 62. The *yellow-throated creeper.

333 1859.  Tennyson, Elaine, 12. Yellow-throated nestling in the nest.

334 1826.  J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 174. In their *yellow-tinged-lookin blankets.

335 1728–46.  Thomson, Spring, 1082. The *yellow-tinging Plague Internal Vision taints.

336 a. 1593.  Marlowe, Ovid’s Elegies, II. iv. Amber trest [v.r. *Yellow trest] is she.

337 1838.  Wilson’s Tales of Borders, IV. 176. He can … lurk in the green moss like the *yellow-wamed ask.

338 1859.  Hawthorne, Marble Fawn, xxxvi. Those immense seven-storied, *yellow-washed hovels.

339 1764.  G. Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist., III. 239. The *Yellow-winged Pye.

340 1808–13.  A. Wilson, Amer. Ornith. (1831), II. 259. Yellow-Winged Sparrow … inhabits the lower parts of New York and Pennsylvania.

341 1844.  Kinglake, Eöthen, xviii. The yellow-winged Angel [of Death].

342   c.  Forming sbs. (or adjs.), the names (or descriptive epithets) of animals and other objects, in which yellow qualifies the name of some part or distinctive feature: yellow-back, (a) some kind of fish (see quot. 1796); (b) a cheap yellow-backed (esp. French) novel; yellow-beak = BEJAN; yellow-bill, name for various birds with a yellow bill or yellow coloration on the bill, as the American scoter, Œdemia americana; yellow-cup, a buttercup; yellow-fin, name for various fishes with yellow fins or yellow coloration on the fins (see quots.); yellow-foot a. (Sc. -fit), yellow-footed; yellow-head, (a) an African plant of the genus Helichrysum having brilliant yellow flowers; (b) a species of moth (see quot. 1832); (c) the American yellow-headed blackbird, Xanthocephalus icterocephalus; yellow-jacket, (a) U.S. colloq., name for a wasp or hornet; (b) name for various species of Eucalyptus with yellowish bark (Morris, Austral Eng.); yellow-leg, -legs, a bird with yellow legs, esp. either of two N. American sandpipers, Totanus flavipes and T. melanoleucus; yellow-line, collectors’ name for species of moths of the genus Orthosia (see quots.); yellow-neb = yellow-beak, BEJAN; yellow-pate, the yellow-hammer; yellow-poll (warbler), the summer warbler of N. America, Dendrœca æstiva; yellow-rump (warbler), Dendrœca coronata, also called yellow-crowned warbler or myrtle-bird; also D. maculosa; yellow-seal (nonce-use), wine in bottles bearing a yellow seal; yellowseed, a name for Lepidium campestre, also called mithridate mustard or m. pepperwort; yellow-shank, -shanks = yellow-leg(s; yellow-shell, collectors’ name for a species of moth (see quot.); yellow-skin, one of a race of men having a yellow skin or complexion (see A. 1 d); yellow-spot, collectors’ name for a species of skipper (butterfly), Polites peckius, having a yellow spot on each hind wing; also (yellow-spot unicorn hawk) for a species of hawk-moth, Sphinx quinque-maculatus; yellow-throat, any species of warbler of the N. American genus Geothlypis, esp. G. trichas, the Maryland yellow-throat; yellow-top, (a) a N. American species of reed-grass, Calamagrostis hyperborea Americana, valued for hay; (b) the early golden-rod, Solidago juncea, common in eastern N. America; (c) a variety of turnip, having the top of the root of a yellow color. See also YELLOW-BELLY, YELLOW-ROOT, YELLOWTAIL, YELLOW-WOOD.

343 1796.  Stedman, Surinam, II. xxix. 368. The fisher-men having caught a quantity of large fish, I discovered one among them … the *yellow-back … thus called from its colour, which almost resembles that of a lemon.

344 1890.  Q. Rev., Oct., 443. Who now would dream of leaving by will a well-thumbed ‘Yellow-back’?

345 1865.  G. Macdonald, Alec Forbes, xxxiv. The speaker kindled with wrath at the presumption of the *yellow-beaks.

346 1868.  [see BEJAN].

347 1865.  Gosse, Land & Sea (1874), 321. Yonder floats by a flock of Parrots with a most abominable combination of harsh screams. It is the *Yellow-bill.

348 1824.  W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 251. A bed of daisies and *yellow-cups.

349 1818.  Hogg, Brownie of Bodsbeck, etc., II. 167. At length a *yellowfin rose…. ‘I wish your honour had hookit that ane.’

350 1825.  Jamieson, Yellowfin, a species of trout, so named from the colour of its fins…; apparently the same with the Finnoc or Finner.

351 1845.  Gosse, Ocean, iv. (1849), 206. The Yellow-fin (Sparus synagris, Linn.), which has its body marked with longitudinal bands of delicate pink and yellow alternately.

352 1888.  Goode, Amer. Fishes, 111. About Cape Cod they [sc. squeteague) are called ‘Drummers’; about Buzzard’s Bay and in the vicinity the largest are known as ‘Yellow-fins.’

353 1796.  Nemnich, Polygl.-Lex., 944. *Yellow fingers, Strombus lambis.

354 c. 1780.  Johnstone Hey & Yng. Caldwell, xxiv., in Child, Ballads, IV. 293. ‘Nut-brown was his hawk,’ they said, ‘And *yellow-fit was his hound.’

355 1712.  Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXVII. 419. Narrow-leaved Cape *yellow Heads [Elichrysum Africanum, Ray].

356 1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 210. The Yellow Head ([Porrectaria] flavi-frontella) … the head tawny.

357 1897.  Yearbk. U.S. Dept. Agric., 351. In complaints made against the redwing the yellowhead is frequently included as equally guilty.

358 1868.  Amer. Naturalist, May, 123. [Bears] also dig up *‘yellow-jackets,’ wasp’s-nests, for the larvæ.

359 1897.  Howells, Landlord at Lion’s Head, 381. He remembered stumbling … into a nest of yellow-jackets.

360 1772.  Forster, in Phil. Trans., LXII. 410. This bird is called a *yellow leg at Albany fort.

361 1854.  Poultry Chron., II. 129. A pen of Brahmas—one pea-comb, two single-combs, one white-legs, two yellow-legs.

362 1895.  Outing (U.S.), XXVI. 70/2. The winter yellowlegs were less numerous.

363 1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 59. The *Yellow Line (Orthosia flavilinea) … Wings … brownish; first pair with a slanting, but very straight yellowish streak.

364 1869.  E. Newman, Brit. Moths, 365/2. The Yellow-Line Quaker (Orthosia macilenta).

365 1899.  H. G. Graham, Soc. Life Scot. 18th Cent., xii. II. 196. These first year’s students were popularly called *‘yellow-nebs.’

366 1612.  Drayton, Poly-olb., xiii. 75. The *Yellow-pate, which though she hurt the blooming tree Yet scarce had any bird a finer pype than shee.

367 1783.  Latham, Gen. Synopsis Birds, IV. 515. *Yellow-Poll. Rather less than the Pettichaps:… This species is found in America,… but its chief residence is in Guiana.

368 1785.  Pennant, Arct. Zool., II. 402. Yellow-poll Warbler…. Inhabits Canada.

369 1730.  Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 433. Parus uropygeo luteo, the *yellow Rump.

370 1785.  Pennant, Arct. Zool., II. 400. Yellow-rump Warbler.

371 1841.  Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., vii. ‘Get some of that yellow-sealed wine, Tiggins,’ says the captain…. I must say I liked the *yellow-seal much better than aunt Hoggarty’s Rosolio.

372 1846–50.  A. Wood, Class-bk. Bot., 161. L[epidium] campestre … *Yellow Seed.

373 1785.  Pennant, Arct. Zool., II. 468. *Yellow-shanks Snipe. With a slender black bill.

374 1835.  Audubon, Ornith. Biog., III. 573. The Yellowshank is much more abundant … to the westward of the Alleghany Mountains than along our Atlantic coast.

375 1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 128. The *Yellow Shell (C[amptogramma] bilineata).

376 1851.  Mayne Reid, Rifle Rangers, xiii. (1853), 89. I was in hopes we’d have a brush with the *yellow-skins.

377 1904.  E. J. Dillon, in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 289. Russia has ever regarded herself as the dear friend of the nations who are now contemptuously nick-named ‘yellowskins.’

378 1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 24. The *Yellow-spot Unicorn Hawk (Sphinx quinque Maculatus).

379 1702.  Petiver, Gazophyl., i. 6. Avis Mary-Landica gutture luteo. The Mary-Land *Yellow-Throat.

380 1846.  Worcester, *Yellow-Top, a species of grass; called also white-top. Farm. Ency.

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