Definition of "yoke" []

• A crossbar with two U-shaped pieces that encircle the necks of a pair of oxen or other draft animals working together. (noun)
• A pair of draft animals, such as oxen, joined by a yoke. (noun)
• A bar used with a double harness to connect the collar of each horse to the pole of a wagon or coach. (noun)
• A frame designed to be carried across a person's shoulders with equal loads suspended from each end. (noun)
• Nautical A crossbar on a ship's rudder to which the steering cables are connected. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "_Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor_, &c. The word here rendered _servants_ means SLAVES, converted to the Christian faith; and the word rendered _yoke_ signifies the _state of slavery_ in which"
• "Yoga is a Sanskrit word meaning union, from which the English word yoke is derived."
• "Your will was strong, but my grandfather's trust which you accepted and did not fulfill -- what you call his yoke -- is the expression of something stronger, with deeper, farther-spreading roots, knit into the foundations of sacredness for all men."