To pull, to snatch; always expressive of quick movement.
1854. Afore you could say Sam Patch, them hogs were yanked aout of the lot, kilt and scraped.—N.Y. Spirit of the Times, n.d.
1856.
| The Poet looks wild at the blue-eyed child, | |
| Then clutches him by the hair, | |
| And makes him abide by the chimney-side, | |
| As he sinks back in his chair— | |
| Pulls back the machine, and with dreadful mein | |
| He oils each rusty wheel, | |
| Then seizes the crank, and with many a yank, | |
| Brings out a poetic squeal. |
1869. He took his pole and reached after that goose with unspeakable sang froid—took a hitch round his neck, and “yanked” him back to his place in the flock without an effort.—Mark Twain, ‘The Innocents Abroad,’ ch. xxxiii.
1890. I took hold of his [the wolf’s] chain and yanked him down.—Mrs. Custer, ‘Following the Guidon,’ p. 121 (N.Y.).
1891. She … was, as she phrased it, “yanked” off the steps upon the platform by an impatient brakeman.—Rose T. Cooke, ‘Huckleberries,’ p. 322 (Boston).
1901. They [the Chilean officers] were smart enough to see that while I had no ‘chip on my shoulder,’ yet I would yank up the first man who ventured to neglect the least point of etiquette.—R. D. Evans, ‘A Sailor’s Log,’ p. 264.
