yoke
yoke1 /jəʊk $ joʊk/ noun [countable]
- a wooden bar used for keeping two animals together, especially cattle, when
they are pulling heavy loads
- a frame that you put across your shoulders so that you can carry two equal loads which hang from either side of it
- the yoke of something literary something that restricts your freedom, making life difficult:
the yoke of tradition
- a part of a skirt or shirt just below the waist or collar, from which the main piece of material hangs in folds
vermin
ver·min /ˈvɜːmən, ˈvɜːmɪn $ ˈvɜːr-/ noun [plural]
- small animals, birds, and insects that are harmful because they destroy crops, spoil food, and spread disease:
The beds were filthy and full of vermin.
Foxes are considered vermin.
- unpleasant people who cause problems for society
yearn
yearn /jɜːn $ jɜːrn/ verb [intransitive]
literary to have a strong desire for something, especially something that is
difficult or impossible to get SYN long
- yearn for
- Hannah yearned for a child.
- yearn to be/do something
- Phil had yearned to be a pilot from an early age.
- REGISTER
- In everyday English, people usually say long for something or long to do something rather than yearn:
- She longed for another child.
hark
hark /hɑːk $ hɑːrk/ verb
- hark at him/her/you! British English old-fashioned spoken used when you think someone is saying something stupid or acting as if they are more important than they really are:
- Hark at him! I bet he couldn’t do any better.
- hark! old use used to tell someone to listen
hark back phrasal verb
- to remember and talk about things that happened in the past
- hark back to
- It’s useless to continually hark back to the past.
hark back to something phrasal verb
- to be similar to something in the past:
- music that harks back to the early age of jazz
ascribe
as·cribe /əˈskraɪb/ verb
ascribe something to somebody/something phrasal verb written
- to claim that something is caused by a particular person, situation etc:
- The report ascribes the rise in childhood asthma to the increase in
pollution.
- to claim that something has been written, said, made etc by a particular
person:
- a quotation that’s often been ascribed to Marilyn Monroe
- to believe that something or someone has a particular quality:
- Local people ascribe healing properties to this fruit.
—ascribable adjective:
- Most of the accidents were ascribable to the bad weather.