Definition of "yerk" []

• To stab. (verb)
• A sudden or quick thrust or motion; a jerk. (noun)

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• "He will keep his sorrows to himself, but the recollection of them will make him "yerk," _i. e._, writhe, or start with pain -- applied in"
• "At which I broke through my rule never to lift my fist to the bairn, and gave him such a yerk in the cheek with the loof of my hand, as made, I am sure, his lugs ring, and sent him dozing to the door like a peerie."
• "Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, and speak sometimes as though he were King William himself, and anon he would speak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not his meaning he would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword."