yet

alternative Ireland US colloquial yit · alternative obsolete yitt · alternative obsolete ytt

1. Thus far; up to the present; up to some unspecified time.
   1. not comparableIn negative or interrogative use, often with an expectation or potential of something happening in the future.

      Have you finished yet?

      4 more examples

      I haven't finished yet.

      We do not yet know what happened.

      He has never yet been late for an appointment.

      I don't know if I can tell you yet.

   2. not comparableIn negative imperative use, asking for an action to be delayed.

      Don't switch it on yet – wait until I've reconnected the pump.

   3. archaicnot comparablepoeticIn affirmative use: still.

      He is yet breathing. (He is still breathing.)

      2 more examples

      O, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave […]? (US National Anthem)

      They atteſt facts vvhich they had heard vvhile they vvere yet heathens, and had they not found reaſon to believe them, they vvould ſtill have continued heathens, and have made no mention of them in their vvritings.

      a. 1720 (date written), Joseph Addison, “Section III. The Providence of God.”, in The Evidences of the Christian Religion, […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], published 1730, →OCLC, subsection V, page 23

2. not comparableAt some future time; eventually.

   The riddle will be solved yet.

   1 more example

   He'll be hanged yet.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

   Synonyms: at last

3. not comparablewith infinitiveNot as of the time referenced.

   I’ve yet to see him. — I have not yet seen him.

   3 more examples

   I had yet to go to a convention. — I had not yet gone to a convention.

   They are yet to win a single match. — They have not yet won a single match.

   He seemed yet to be convinced. — He seemed not yet to have been convinced.

4. not comparableIn addition.

   There are two hours yet to go until our destination.

   2 more examples

   It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   After yet another missed penalty by Kvirikashvili from bang in front of the posts, England scored again, centre Tuilagi flying into the line and touching down under the bar.

   2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport

   Synonyms: besides

5. not comparabledegreeEven.

   Oh no! Yet more problems!

   2 more examples

   K-2 is yet higher than this.

   Men may not too rashly believe the confessions of witches, nor yet the evidence against them.

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: still

alternative yeat

1. Nevertheless; however; but; despite that.

   It’s incredible yet true.

   5 more examples

   I thought I knew you, yet how wrong was I!

   Nor Court nor Citie had ſhe ſeene, yeat eithers prayſe ſhe had: / So much more vvorth by hovve much leſſe ſhe vvas vn-nicely clad.

   1602, William Warner, “The Seventh Booke. Chapter XXXVI.”, in Albions England. A Continued Historie of the Same Kingdome, from the Originals of the First Inhabitants thereof: […], 5th edition, London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant for George Potter, […], →OCLC, page 173

   Emaciated little creatures, with skin harsh and rough, rapid pulse, nerves ever on the strain—have yet a look of lively intelligence.

   1907, Margaret McMillan, Labour and Childhood, page 10

   Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.

   1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;[…].

   1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016

   Synonyms: be that as it may, even so, withal

present singular third person yets · participle present yetting · past yetted · participle past yetted · participle past yoten · alternative yit · alternative obsolete yete

1. obsoleteTo pour.

   […] & stablenes of perseueraunce; graunt me for all wor[l]dly consolacyons the swete, gracyous vnccyon of the holy goost, & for all carnall loue

   1502, William Atkynson (translator), De Imitatione Christi, in 1893, John Kells Ingram, The Earliest English Translation of the First Three Books of the De Imitatione Christi, page 221

   1 more example

   Some with a fals herte, and a payntyd face In his lordes seruyce to haue chefe rowme and place Into his lordes erys yetyth secretly Lyes venemous, […]

   1509 (edition published 1874), Alexander Barclay (translator), The Ship of Fools (originally by Sebastian Brant), page 211

2. dialectalobsoleteTo melt; found; cast (e.g. metal, by pouring it into a mould when molten).

   […] whiche shall present him selfe openly stained or embrued with sondry colours, or poudered with the duste of stones that he cutteth, or perfumed with tedious sauours of the metalles by him yoten.

   1531 (edition reprinted 1880), Thomas Elyot, The Boke named the Gouernour, page 48

plural yets · alternative yit · alternative obsolete yete

1. dialectalA metal pan or boiler; yetling.

present singular third person yets · participle present yetting · past yot · participle past yotten

1. West CountrynonstandardTo get.