13 October 2017
yokel
[yoh-kuh l]
noun, Informal
1. an unsophisticated person from a rural area; a country bumpkin.
Origin of yokel
1805-1815 First recorded in 1805-15; origin uncertain
Related forms
yokelish, adjective
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for yokel
Historical Examples
I have a notion that I sat there staring and listening like a yokel at a play.
The Arrow of Gold
Joseph Conrad
This man was a yokel of no interest to us, apart from this one episode in his career.
An Old Meerschaum
David Christie Murray
Thebold had been chagrined at learning that Don Cort was not the yokel he had taken him for.
And Then the Town Took Off
Richard Wilson
This yokel from the woods and mountains needed a little coaxing.
The Bright Messenger
Algernon Blackwood
It is the militia-man, the yokel, standing facing the captain and gesticulating at him.
The Human Slaughter-House
Wilhelm Lamszus
McAllister hastily tried to assume the expression and manner of a yokel.
McAllister and His Double
Arthur Train
Tristrem looked at him much as a yokel at a fair might look at a wizard.
The Truth About Tristrem Varick
Edgar Saltus
If that isn’t a Zummerset or Devon yokel, sink me for a landlubber!
The Quest of the ‘Golden Hope’
Percy F. Westerman
They are as unpardonable as the yokel rhetoric of our British friends.Germany and the Germans
Price Collier
The yokel was a year or two older, was taller, and stones heavier.
Acton’s Feud
Frederick Swainson
Today’s quote
You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.
– Jodi Picoult
On this day
13 October 54AD – death of Claudius, Roman Emperor. He was treated as an imbecile because he’d been born with a limp and slight deafness. As a result he was not seen as a threat by others and therefore survived the purges by Caligula and Tiberius. He was the last surviving man in his family following Caligula’s assassination, leading to him being declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard. He proved himself to be an able administrator and constructed many roads, aqueducts and canals across the empire. He successfully invaded Britain, something that previous emperors, including Caligula, had failed to achieve. He was assassinated by poisoning, many believe by his wife. He was succeeded by his grand-nephew, Nero. Born 1 August 10BC.
13 October 1307 – Pope Clement V orders the overthrow, arrest and torture of Knights Templar in France. This is believed to be the origin of Black Friday or Friday the 13th being unlucky.