Yeat

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a gate or opening in a wall, fence, or barrier that can be swung or slid aside
2. An obsolete word meaning a gate, particularly one set in an enclosure or city wall to control passage
3. A dated name for a movable barrier across a passage, often a door-like frame that lets people through

Etymology: "Yeat" is an obsolete word for a gate, surviving today mainly in place names, and it is a different word from the "yet" it sometimes gets confused with. Its root is a verb meaning to pour, though the link is not obvious. The noun comes from Middle English "yeten" and Old English "ġēotan", meaning to flow or pour, which share an ancestor with German "gießen" and Dutch "gieten", both meaning to cast or mould metal. The same root gave Scots "yat", and "yote" is a doublet, a sibling word from the same source that took a different path into English. The connection to a gate probably runs through the idea of a barrier that is lowered or poured across an opening, but the exact sense development is not something the sources here spell out, so it is best read as a plausible link rather than settled fact. What is clear is that the gate sense has outlived most other uses, and it survives mainly in names of places across northern England and Scotland.