yank (yāngk) v. yanked, yank·ing, yanks v. tr.
To pull on something suddenly. See Synonyms at jerk1. n. A sudden vigorous pull; a jerk. [Origin unknown.] |
yank
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yank jargon
(From the colloquial meaning "to pull suddenly") To insert a copy of some saved text at the current position in a document being edited.
The term is used in the Unix text editors GNU Emacs and vi but "paste" is more common elsewhere.
[Used elsewhere?]
(1998-07-01)