"yank" in the noun sense
1. Yankee, Yank, Northerner
an American who lives in the North (especially during the American Civil War)
2. Yankee, Yank, Yankee-Doodle
an American (especially to non-Americans)
"yank" in the verb sense
1. yank, jerk
pull, or move with a sudden movement
"He turned the handle and jerked the door open"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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