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yeoman
6 dictionary results for: Yeoman
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
yeo·man       [yoh-muhn] Pronunciation Key noun, plural -men, adjective
–noun
1.a petty officer in a navy, having chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy.
2.British. a farmer who cultivates his own land.
3.History/Historical. one of a class of lesser freeholders, below the gentry, who cultivated their own land, early admitted in England to political rights.
4.Archaic.
a.a servant, attendant, or subordinate official in a royal or other great household.
b.a subordinate or assistant, as of a sheriff or other official or in a craft or trade.
–adjective
5.of, pertaining to, composed of, or characteristic of yeomen: the yeoman class.
6.performed or rendered in a loyal, valiant, useful, or workmanlike manner, esp. in situations that involve a great deal of effort or labor: He did a yeoman job on the problem.
[Origin: 1300–50; ME yeman, yoman, prob. reduced forms of yengman, yongman, yungman, with similar sense; see young, man1]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
yeo·man       (yō'mən)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
    1. An attendant, servant, or lesser official in a royal or noble household.
    2. A yeoman of the guard.
  2. A petty officer performing chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy.
  3. An assistant or other subordinate, as of a sheriff.
  4. A diligent, dependable worker.
  5. A farmer who cultivates his own land, especially a member of a former class of small freeholders in England.


[Middle English yoman, perhaps from Old English *gēaman, from Old Frisian gāman, villager : gā, region, district + man, man; see man-1 in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
yeoman 
c.1300, "attendant in a noble household," of unknown origin, perhaps a contraction of O.E. iunge man "young man," or from an unrecorded O.E. *geaman, equivalent of O.Fris. gaman "villager," from O.E. -gea "district, village," cognate with O.Fris. ga, ge, from P.Gmc. *gaujan. Sense of "commoner who cultivates his land" is recorded from 1411; also the third order of fighting men (1375, below knights and squires, above knaves), hence yeomen's service "good, efficient service" (1602). Meaning "naval petty officer in charge of supplies" is first attested 1669. Yeowoman first recorded 1852: "Then I am yeo-woman O the clumsy word!" [Tennyson, "The Foresters"]

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
yeoman

noun
1. officer in the (ceremonial) bodyguard of the British monarch 
2. in former times was free and cultivated his own land 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Yeoman, IN (town, FIPS 85886) Location: 40.66712 N, 86.72343 W
Population (1990): 131 (49 housing units)
Area: 0.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Yeoman

Yeo"man\, n.; pl. Yeomen. [OE. yoman, [yogh]eman, [yogh]oman; of uncertain origin; perhaps the first, syllable is akin to OFries. g[=a] district, region, G. gau, OHG. gewi, gouwi, Goth. gawi. [root]100.]

1. A common man, or one of the commonly of the first or most respectable class; a freeholder; a man free born.

Note: A yeoman in England is considered as next in order to the gentry. The word is little used in the United States, unless as a title in law proceedings and instruments, designating occupation, and this only in particular States.

2. A servant; a retainer. [Obs.]

A yeman hadde he and servants no mo. --Chaucer.

3. A yeoman of the guard; also, a member of the yeomanry cavalry. [Eng.]

4. (Naut.) An interior officer under the boatswain, gunner, or carpenters, charged with the stowage, account, and distribution of the stores.

Yeoman of the guard, one of the bodyguard of the English sovereign, consisting of the hundred yeomen, armed with partisans, and habited in the costume of the sixteenth century. They are members of the royal household.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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