Yeld

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A female animal, especially a cow or ewe, that is not producing milk or is temporarily unable to breed
2. A female creature, particularly a cow or sheep, that is currently not lactating or is incapable of reproducing for a time
3. A female animal, often referring to a cow or ewe, that does not currently produce milk or cannot breed temporarily

Etymology: "Yeld" is an old English word, recorded in Old English as "gelde" (or "gelda"), meaning barren or unproductive, and it was applied especially to a female animal, such as a cow, ewe or sow, that did not bear young or had stopped giving milk. The Old English adjective was itself related to words for payment and tribute: the root sense connects to "geld," money paid as a tax or fine, a link that also gave English "yield" and "gild." Its base idea of a barren or unproductive animal is what the modern meaning preserves. The word survived mainly in farming and dialect use, especially in Northern and Scottish English, where it was used for a non-breeding ewe or heifer long after it had faded from general speech. Its verb form, in the sense of making a female animal barren or unproductive, shows the same core meaning in action.

Synonyms: yield, produce, give, offer, surrender

Antonyms: retain, withhold, keep, refuse, deny