Yield sb.

Forms: 1 ʓeld, ʓield, ʓild, ʓyld, ʓeold, 2 ȝæild, 2–3 ȝield, 2–5 ȝeld, 4 eild, yilde, 4–5 ȝeild, yeild, 4–6 yeld, 5 ȝelde, yelde, 6 yalde, 6–7 yeeld(e, 6– yield. [In senses 1–3 OE. ʓield, etc., str. neut. (cf. GUILD etym.) = OFris. geld, ield (Fris. jild, jil), OS. geld (senses as in OE.), MLG., MDu. gelt payment, money (Du. geld money), OHG., MHG. gelt (senses as in OE.), (G. geld money), ON. gjald (Sw. gäld, Da. gjeld), Goth. gild tax: f. stem of *gelðan (see next). In senses 4–6 directly f. YIELD v.]

  † 1.  Payment; a sum of money paid or exacted, as a tribute, tax, etc.: spec. = GELD sb. Obs.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark, Introd. 4. De reddendo caesaris tributo, of ʓyld æs cæseres ʓeselenne.

a. 1122.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1013. Bead þa Sweʓen full ʓild & metsunga to his here þone winter. Ibid., 1037. Ælc unriht ʓeold he forbead. Ibid. (a. 1154), 1137. Hi læiden ʓæildes on þe tunes.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 10170. Þeȝȝ haffdenn wikenn off þe king To sammnenn hise ȝeldess.

c. 1205.  Lay., 7194. Romleode … þe … ne dursten hider liðen Axien king of þissen londe Þat he ȝefue ȝeld in to Rome.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 27831. Strenth, þat lauerding agh to meild, Þat o þair men tas wrangwis yeild.

13[?].  K. Alis., 2959 (Linc. Inn MS.). Ȝef þow wold aske suche a ȝeld Com and haue hit in þe feild.

1424.  Sc. Acts Jas. I. (1814), II. 4. It is accordit þ^t a ȝelde be raisit þ^t is to say xijd of ilk pvnde.

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 652. That the lady … shold hold and haue … all yelde and all quarels and exaccions fre and quyte.

1494.  Burgh Rec. Edin. (1869), I. 67. And this ȝeild to be gadderit yeirly anes in the yeir.

1531.  in Eng. Gilds (1870), 329. Euery mannys wief, after the deth of hur husbond, beyng a taillo^r, shall kepe as many servaunts as they wille,… so she bere scotte and lotte, yeye and yeld, w^t the occupacion.

1582.  Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 6. The constablye of Sharpelles for a yalde vij^d.

  † b.  Payment for loss or injury, compensation.

601–4.  Laws of Ethelbert, xxviii. Ʒif man inne feoh ʓenimeþ, se man III ʓelde ʓebete.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 58. Strong ȝeld is her mid alle & Godes dom is, & his heste, þet heo hit ȝelde allegate.

c. 1500.  Priests of Peblis, in Pinkerton, Scot. Poems (1792), I. 29. Upon the day of Dome, For mans body thair to give ane yeild.

  † 2.  The offering of sacrifice to a deity; worship.

a. 900.  Cynewulf, Juliana, 146. Þu goda ussa ʓield forhogdest.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 212. Þis ilke ȝeld, þet tu dest to deouelen.

  † 3.  Reward, recompense; retribution. Obs.

a. 1200.  Moral Ode, 45 (Trin. Coll. MS.). He deð his aihte an siker stede þe hit sent to heueriche, þar ne þarf he habben care of here ne of ȝielde.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 376. Þe þolemode þolie bitter one hwule uor he schal sone … habben ȝeld of blisse.

  4.  The action of yielding crops or other products, production; that which is produced, produce; esp. amount of produce.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 216. Eek hillis yeld is Wel gretter grayn and fewer, then in feeld is.

a. 1483.  Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 69. Beyng in some yeres, or in sundrye countreys, thynne wheete, or thycke husked, or bettyr and heavyer of yelde, some tyme whiter flower or browner.

1543.  Grafton, Contn. Harding, 157. After haruest for so muche as wheat … was of so smal yelde, it was solde for .xii.s. and .xiii.s. iiii.d. a quarter.

1563.  Hyll, Art Garden. (1593), 126. The yong plants ought daily to be plucked vp from the old, for feare of hindring the yeeld of the old.

1577.  Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., 17 b. To knowe the nature of euery grounde, Iscomachus in Xenophon, dooth wyll you to marke wel the plantes and the yeeld of the Countrey.

1611.  R. Fenton, Usurie, II. xiii. 91. That increase which God gaue by the yeeld of the earth and liuing creatures.

1773.  Burke, Lett., to Marg. Rockingham (1844), I. 445. The wheat was large in show upon the ground, but the yield in flour is not extraordinary.

1799.  A. Young, Agric. Linc., 213. His yield 12 guineas an acre.

1854.  Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol. (ed. 2), I. 131. The coking lasts about twenty-four hours, and the yield of coke in the ovens averages 67 per cent.

1863.  Fawcett, Pol. Econ., III. xv. 489. Since the year 1850, the average of the yield of gold in Australia has been 10,000,000l.

1868.  Dasent, Jest & Earnest (1873), II. 381. He had a farm just outside the town on the yield of which he lived.

1893.  Traill, Soc. Eng., Introd. p. xlviii. Their earliest trade … is … in the surface products of the earth—in corn or wine, in the yields of the olive-grove or the orchard.

  b.  The amount obtained from some financial transaction, in post, etc. (e.g., of interest from an investment, of revenue from a tax).

1877.  R. Giffen, Stock Exch. Securities, 152. The higher the yield of a security.

1884.  Manch. Exam., 12 Sept., 5/1. A tax … which, moreover, is considerably reduced in its yield by the cost of collection.

1912.  Times, 19 Dec., 15/4. The present value of the three Central London stocks … affords a yield of over 5 per cent.

  † 5.  The action of yielding or giving in; surrender, submission. Obs. rare.

1600.  W. Watson, Decacorden (1602), 193. Their consent, yeeld and concurrence. Ibid., 351. No such yeelde, as the Iesuiticall faction report we haue made.

  6.  The action of yielding or giving way, as under pressure or tension.

1889.  Telegr. Jrnl. & Electr. Rev., 20 Dec., 707/1. It was concluded that the increase of [elastic resistance] during ‘yield’ is the same for all the specimens.