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).

  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.]

  A.  adj.

  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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1888.  Sheffield Gloss., Yollow, yellow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

c. 1645.  [see STARCH sb. 1].

  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.)

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

1834.  [see MONGOLIAN a. 2].

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

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

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

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.

  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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

  f.  transf. Dressed in yellow.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

  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.

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

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.

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].

  B.  sb.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

  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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

1881.  [see BLUE sb. 8].

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

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.

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

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

  C.  Collocations and Combinations.

  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.

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

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

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.].

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

1837, 1875.  [see CALISAYA].

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

1494.  [see JAUNDICE 1 β].

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1887.  [see PLAGUE sb. 3 b].

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

  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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

  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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1868.  J. E. Ollivant, trans. P. Kollonitz’s Crt. Mexico, 16. The *yellow-flagged boat of the quarantine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  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.

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.

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

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

1868.  [see BEJAN].

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.’

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

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.’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.’

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

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

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