a. (sb.) Sc. and north. dial. Forms: 1 ʓelde, 5– yeld, 6 ȝeld, ȝeild, ȝeald, 6–9 yeild, yeeld, 7 yeell, 8–9 yell, yeald, yield, yeal, yeel, yill. See also EILD. [late OE. *ʓielde, ʓelde (in glosses), corresp. to MLG. galt, OHG., MHG. galt (MG. gelde, gelle, G. gelt), ON. geldr (MSw. galder, etc.): cf. GELD a. and v.1]
1. Of an animal: Barren; that has missed having her young, or is not old enough to bear.
a. 1100. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 226/22. Effeta, ʓelde. Ibid., 394/26.
1411. Priory of Finchale (Surtees), 153. ix yeldbestis videlicet iiij vaccæ j stot ij quioks, ij stirketts.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. iv. 32. Enee hym self … to the, Proserpyne, A ȝeld kow all to trynschit.
1538. Reg. Privy Seal Scot., II. 386/2. xl ȝeild scheip.
a. 1598. D. Fergusson, Scot. Prov. (1641), No. 47. A yeeld sow was never good to gryces.
1726. Fleming’s Fulfilling Script. (ed. 5), Table Scots Phr., Yeald, barren or dry.
1808. Jamieson, Yeld,… 3. Applied to cattle or sheep that are too young to bear, Dumfr.
1831. Sutherland Farm Rep., 79, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. Yill gimmers. Ibid., 81. The yell ewes being all sorted off the herding a few days before the lambing begins.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 38. If she has never been put to the ram she gets the name of yeld-gimmer.
1886. Athenæum, 30 Oct., 560/2. To shoot the yeld hinds on the 15th of October.
1897. Badminton Mag., April, 474. We have got altogether four bucks and a good yeld doe.
b. Of birds: In a single state, unmated. Sc.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 388. Birdis clekkit as tha war wont till do,… No nestis maid bot all that tyme war ȝeild.
1809. Edmonston, Zetl. Isl., II. 280. [They], not paring, are called yield kittiwakes.
2. Of cattle: Not yielding milk, from being in calf or from age; ‘dry.’ Also of a nurse.
1670. Contract, in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. (1896), XXX. 20. Too tydie kay & four yeell kay.
1785. Burns, Addr. to Deil, x. An’ dawtet, twal-pint Hawkie’s gane As yell’s the Bill.
1793. Statist. Acc. Scot., IX. 317. The yell cattle vary in numbers according to the seasons of the year.
1808. Jamieson, Yeld, Yeald, Yell, Eild … A cow, although with calf, is said to gang yeld, when her milk dries up. A yeld nurse signifies dry nurse.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxix. A wild farm in Northumberland, well stocked with milk-cows, yeald beasts, and sheep.
1864. A. Leighton, Myst. Leg. Edin. (1886), 8. ‘And wha will pay for the wet nurse?’ said I, ‘for ye ken I am as dry as a yeld crummie.’
3. Applied to inanimate objects that are sterile, unproductive, etc. (see quots.).
1721. Kelly, Scot. Prov., 42. Any thing is better than the Yell Kail. An Apology for having little, or bad, Fleshmeat. Ibid. foot-n., Yell is properly what gives no Milk, here it signifies boil’d without Meat, or having no Butter.
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., s.v. Yell, A rock is said to be yell when it will not quarry but with gunpowder: field is said to be yell when nothing will grow on it.
1825. Jamieson, Yeld … 8. Bleak, cold; applied to the weather, as denoting that it has no tendency to fruitfulness, or that it threatens sterility.
B. sb. A barren cow or ewe; a hind that is not pregnant.
1856. Morton, Cycl. Agric., II. 727.
1836. W. Somerset Word-bk., Yeld … a female deer not pregnant.
Hence Yeld v. trans., to make ‘yell,’ keep from breeding.
1831. Sutherland Farm Rep., 81, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. That … those least fit for breeding be yelled off for sale. Ibid., The contrivance of yelling or breeching a certain number of ewes in each herding.
