yield

present singular third person yields · participle present yielding · past yielded · obsolete past yold · participle past yielded · obsolete participle past yold · obsolete participle past yolden

1. To give as a result or outcome; to produce or render.

   This method generally yields better results.

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   The new variety of potatoes yields 20% more.

   The wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 24:5

   […] We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never / Yields us kind answer.

   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 ii]

   Vines yield nectar.

   1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   Despite all the evidence confirming the existence of the Protheans, little is known about their culture and society. From time to time, dig sites will yield new clues, but after 50,000 years of decay, little of value is unearthed.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Protheans: Data Discs Codex entry

   Synonyms: furnish, afford, give forth

   1. To produce as return from an investment.

      Historically, that security yields a high return.

      Synonyms: furnish, afford, give forth

   2. mathematicsTo produce as a result.

      Adding 3 and 4 yields a result of 7.

      Synonyms: furnish, afford, give forth

   3. human sciencesTo produce a particular sound as the result of a sound law.

      Indo-European p- yields Germanic f-.

      Synonyms: furnish, afford, give forth

   4. obsoleteTo give in payment; repay, recompense; reward; requite.

      God 'ild [yield] you, sir!

      c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]

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      Tend me to-night two hours, I ask no more, / And the gods yield you for 't.

      c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]

      God yield thee, and God thank ye.

      1623 January 5 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Spanish Curat”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene v

      Heaven yield her for it, but in me put force / To weary her ears with one continuous prayer, / Until she let me fly discaged to sweep / In ever-highering eagle-circles up / To the great Sun of Glory, […]

      1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Gareth and Lynette”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; V), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 38

      Synonyms: furnish, afford, give forth

2. To give up; to surrender or capitulate.
   1. intransitivetransitiveTo give as demanded; to relinquish.

      They refuse to yield to the enemy.

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      Eventually she stopped arguing and yielded the point.

      Won with thy words, & conquered with thy lookes, / I yeeld my ſelfe, my men & horſe to thee: / To be partaker of thy good or ill, / As long as life maintaines Theridimas.

      c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii

      I'll make him yield the crown.

      1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

      Shall yield up all their virtue, all their fame.

      1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   2. USespeciallyintransitivetransitiveTo give way so as to allow another to pass first.

      Yield the right of way to pedestrians.

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      It is not clear from the road markings who is supposed to yield at the junction.

   3. intransitiveTo give way under force; to succumb to a force.

      I put my shoulder into the door, but it did not yield.

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      One equal temper of heroic hearts, / Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

      1833 October 20 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Ulysses”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 91

      ⁠For though my nature rarely yields ⁠To that vague fear implied in death; ⁠Nor shudders at the gulfs beneath, The howlings from forgotten fields; […]

      1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XL”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 62

      He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threw ourselves against it. With a crash it burst open, and we almost fell headlong into the room.

      1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC

   4. intransitivecomputingOf a running thread or process: to give control back to the parent program or operating system so that other threads or processes can be allowed to run.

      The system froze because the buggy program got into an infinite loop and didn't yield.

   5. materials scienceengineeringTo pass the material's yield point and undergo plastic deformation.
   6. rareTo admit to be true; to concede; to allow.

      I yield it just, said Adam, and submit.

      1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

plural yields

1. countableuncountableA product.

   In the case of countries more favoured by climate than Britain their earliest trade with the foreigner which history has to record is usually in the surface products of the earth—in corn or wine, in the yields of the olive-grove or the orchard.

   1902, Traill, H. D.; Mann, James Saumarez, Social England : a record of the progress of the people in religion, laws, learning, arts, industry, commerce, science, literature and manners, from the earliest times to the present day, page lxxxviii

2. The quantity of something produced.
   1. countableuncountableagricultureMeasurement of the amount of a crop harvested, or animal products such as wool, meat or milk produced, per unit area of land.

      Zucchini plants always seem to produce a high yield of fruit.

   2. countableuncountablefisherybusinessThe harvestable population growth of an ecosystem.
   3. countableuncountablechemistryThe amount of product obtained in a chemical reaction.
   4. countableuncountablegeographyThe volume of water escaping from a spring.
   5. countableuncountableThe explosive energy value of a bomb, especially a nuclear weapon, usually expressed in tons of TNT equivalent.
   6. countableuncountablebusinessProfit earned from an investment; return on investment.

      When bond yields rise slowly over time, it’s not a problem for pensions deploying LDI strategies, and actually helps their finances.

      2022 October 8, Julia Horowitz, “How meltdown in a $1 trillion market brought the UK to the brink of a financial crisis”, in CNN Business

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      A yield curve inversion happens when long-term bond yields fall below short-term bond yields. That rarely occurs. Before this month, that section of the yield curve hadn’t inverted since 2007, just before the Great Recession.

      2019 August 22, “What is the yield curve and why it matters”, in CNN Business

   7. countableuncountablelawThe current return as a percentage of the price of a stock or bond.

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      Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.

      2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2020, page 68

3. countablematerialuncountableengineeringyield strength of a material.
4. countableuncountablecomputingThe situation where a thread relinquishes the processor to allow other threads to execute.
5. countabledialectalobsoleteuncountablePayment; money; tribute.