DCHP-2

Yankee ((n.)) † [prob.ult. < Du Jan Kees John Cheese, a nickname, the s being taken as a pl. inflection] Slang DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

THIS ENTRY MAY CONTAIN OUTDATED INFORMATION, TERMS and EXAMPLES

1 n.
a native or citizen of the United States, originally a New Englander.
- 1775 A party of ours pursu'd them and took Ethan Allen their commander, 17 Yankeys, and 16 Canadians, prisoners.
- 1838 It wipes up the blue-noses considerable hard, and don't let off the Yankees so very easy neither. . . .
- 1918 . . . his chum whispered: "Put her there, Chuck, you old Canuck, we are allies now. The days of Stoney Creek are passed. We've buried the hatchet with both England and Canada . . . I'm Yankee, Chuck, old boy, but we'll always be allies, won't we?"
- 1967 The trophies . . . are still in "Yankee" hands after RMC was whipped in hockey and pistol-shooting . . . and narrowly lost the debating contest.
2a n. — Hist.
any United-States-born immigrant to the British North American provinces.
- 1810 (1957) I take the liberty of mentioning . . . that a worthless Yanky of the name of Truman Napping, has without authority set himself down in Seymour, where he has built a House and vends liquor in the most disorderly manner.
- 1818 The drunkard said it [Upper Canada] was "a d----d wild country, full of yankies and agues. . . ."
- 1832 (1902) The white emigrants from the United States are all termed "Yankees."
- 1851 It has been but a short time since a colored gentleman was put on the Grand Jury in Toronto, C.W., which appears to have been very offensive to some of the "blue skin" yankees there, who complained and curled up their noses at it.
- 1926 . . . there was also, quite apart from political feeling, a general dislike of the "Yankees," as they were always called, who had migrated to Canada.
- 1963 The Loyalists . . . were not generally highly regarded by their contemporaries . . . who included them with other "Yankees" settled in the province.
2b n. — Obs.
a United Empire Loyalist, or one of his descendants.
See also: United Empire Loyalist
- 1823 I mean the U.E. Loyalists, and their descendents, who have been but too frequently insulted by the opprobrious epithet of Yankee, opprobrious at least in this part of the country.
- 1825 The landlord was demonstrating his claim to be considered a yankee from having been [a]cross the line on a smuggling expedition where he lost his whole adventure
2c n. — Derog., Obs.
in Upper Canada, a supporter of the Radicalism adopted by many post-Loyalist American immigrants and others.
See also: Radicalism Yankee Democrat
- 1832 I have heard such men endeavoring to intimidate the ignorant and assailing the cupidity of the better informed, by asserting that Canadian reformers are seeking to overthrow the Government, are disloyal yankees, and such like.
- 1834 . . . the imputation . . . that the Editor of the British Colonial Argus is a "Yankee," is as FALSE as it is meant to be scandalous.
- 1836 (1926) There was astonishingly little fighting considering the number of wild Irishmen we brought down, but they were altogether too strong for the Yankees, who after giving their votes generally mounted their horses and made off.
3 n.
speech characteristic of Americans, in early use with special reference to New England speech; American English.
- 1822 I consider that it would be conferring a signal benefit on future travellers from England, in America, to put a complete Yankee Dictionary and Vocabulary into their hands, by the aid of which they could be at no loss to understand what must otherwise appear strange and unintelligible.
- 1835 (1838) "You did not come from Halifax, I presume, did you?" in a dialect too rich to be mistaken as genuine Yankee.
- 1872 If a language distinct from that of English has been formed in the States, let it be called Yankee: or if that name is wanting in dignity, by some other name which correctly denotes the fact.
- 1918
  They return with finer clothes,
  Speaking "Yankee" through their nose!
  That's the way the Gaelic goes--
  Pop! goes the Gaelic.