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Webster 1913 Edition


Yolk

Yolk

(yōlk or yōk; 277)
,
Noun.
[OE.
yolke
,
yelke
,
ȝolke
,
ȝelke
, AS.
geoloca
,
geoleca
, fr.
geolu
yellow. See
Yellow
.]
[Written also
yelk
.]
1.
The yellow part of an egg; the vitellus.
2.
(Zool.)
An oily secretion which naturally covers the wool of sheep.
Yolk cord
(Zool.)
,
a slender cord or duct which connects the yolk glands with the egg chambers in certain insects, as in the aphids.
Yolk gland
(Zool.)
,
a special organ which secretes the yolk of the eggs in many turbellarians, and in some other invertebrates. See Illust. of
Hermaphrodite
in Appendix.
Yolk sack
(Anat.)
,
the umbilical vesicle. See under
Unbilical
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Yolk

YOLK

,
Noun.
1.
The yelk of an egg. [See Yelk.]
2.
The unctuous secretion from the skin of sheep, which renders the pile soft and pliable.
3.
The vitellus, a part of the seed of plants, so named by Gaertner, from its supposed analogy with the yelk of an egg. It is characterized as very firmly and inseparably connected with the embryo, yet never rising out of the integuments of the seed in germination, but absorbed, like the albumen, (see White and Perisperm,) for the nourishment of the embryo. When the albumen is present, it is always situated between it and the embryo. In the grasses it forms a scale between the embryo and albumen. It is considered by Smith as a subterraneous cotyledon.

Definition 2024


yolk

yolk

English

Alternative forms

Noun

yolk (countable and uncountable, plural yolks)

yolk of an egg
  1. The yellow, spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the white albumen, and serves as nutriment for the growing young.
    To make meringue, you have to separate the white from the yolk.
  2. The grease in a sheep's fleece.
    • 1846, The Cultivator (page 270)
      Wool-growers appear to entertain different opinions in regard to the effect which yolk has on the value of the fleece. Some seem to suppose that the aggregate amount which they receive for their wool is increased from the greater weight which it possesses by being charged with this substance []

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