English▸ verb
1 [with object] produce or provide (a natural, agricultural, or industrial product):
the land yields grapes and tobacco.
▪ (of an action or process) produce or deliver (a result or gain):
this method yields the same results.
▪ (of a financial or commercial process or transaction) generate (a specified financial return):
such investments yield direct cash returns.
2 [no object] give way to arguments, demands, or pressure:
the Western powers now yielded when they should have resisted
he yielded to the demands of his partners.
▪ [with object] relinquish possession of (something); give (something) up:
they might yield up their secrets
they are forced to yield ground.
▪ [with object] cease to argue about:
I yielded the point.
▪ (especially in a legislature) allow another the right to speak in a debate:
I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.
▪ mainly North American give right of way to other traffic.
3 (of a mass or structure) give way under force or pressure:
he reeled into the house as the door yielded.
▸ noun the full amount of an agricultural or industrial product:
the milk yield was poor.
▪ the amount of money brought in, e.g., interest from an investment or revenue from a tax; return:
an annual dividend yield of 20 percent.
▪ Chemistry the amount obtained from a process or reaction relative to the theoretical maximum amount obtainable.
▪ (of a nuclear weapon) the force in tons or kilotons of TNT required to produce an equivalent explosion:
yields ranging from five kilotons to 100 tons.
– ORIGIN Old English g(i)eldan ‘pay, repay’, of Germanic origin. The senses ‘produce, bear’ and ‘surrender’ arose in Middle English .