yeah ◆◆◆ /jeə /
1 CONVENTION Yeah means yes. [INFORMAL , SPOKEN ] □ 'Bring us something to drink.'—'Yeah, yeah.'
2 → see also yes
year ◆◆◆ /j I ə r / (years )
1 N‑COUNT A year is a period of twelve months or 365 or 366 days, beginning on the first of January and ending on the thirty-first of December. □ The year was 1840. □ We had an election last year. □ …the number of people on the planet by the year 2050.
2 → see also leap year
3 N‑COUNT A year is any period of twelve months. □ The museums attract more than two and a half million visitors a year. □ She's done quite a bit of work this past year. □ The school has been empty for ten years.
4 N‑COUNT Year is used to refer to the age of a person. For example, if someone or something is twenty years old or twenty years of age, they have lived or existed for twenty years. □ He's 58 years old. □ [+ of ] I've been in trouble since I was eleven years of age. □ This column is ten years old today.
5 N‑COUNT A school year or academic year is the period of time in each twelve months when schools or universities are open and students are studying there. In Britain and the United States, the school year starts in September. □ …the 1990/91 academic year. □ [+ at ] The twins didn't have to repeat their second year at school.
6 N‑COUNT You can refer to someone who is, for example, in their first year at school or university as a first year . [BRIT ] □ The first years and second years got a choice of French, German and Spanish.
7 N‑COUNT A financial or business year is an exact period of twelve months which businesses or institutions use as a basis for organizing their finances. [BUSINESS ] □ He announced big tax increases for the next two financial years. □ The company admits it will make a loss for the year ending September.
8 N‑PLURAL You can use years to emphasize that you are referring to a long time. [EMPHASIS ] □ I haven't laughed so much in years. □ It took me years to fully recover.
9 → see also calendar year , fiscal year
10 PHRASE If something happens year after year , it happens regularly every year. □ Regulars return year after year.
11 PHRASE If something changes year by year , it changes gradually each year. □ This problem has increased year by year. □ The department has been shrinking year by year because of budget cuts.
12 PHRASE If you say something happens all year round or all the year round , it happens continually throughout the year. □ Town gardens are ideal because they produce flowers nearly all year round. □ Drinking and driving is a problem all the year round.
13 donkey's years → see donkey USAGE year
When you use year
to talk about age, you must use old
after it. Don’t say, for example, ‘
year|book /j I ə r bʊk/ (yearbooks ) N‑COUNT A yearbook is a book that is published once a year and that contains information about the events and achievements of the previous year, usually concerning a particular place or organization. □ [+ for ] …an American college yearbook for 1955.
yea r-lo ng ADJ [ADJ n] Year-long is used to describe something that lasts for a year. □ The miners ended their year-long strike in March 1985.
year|ly /j I ə r li/
1 ADJ [ADJ n] A yearly event happens once a year or every year. □ The seven major industrial countries will have their yearly meeting in London. ● ADV [ADV after v] Yearly is also an adverb. □ Clients normally pay fees in advance, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
2 ADJ [ADJ n] You use yearly to describe something such as an amount that relates to a period of one year. □ In Holland, the government sets a yearly budget for health care. ● ADV [ADV after v] Yearly is also an adverb. □ The school paid $1,300 yearly for the use of our facilities.
yearn /jɜː r n/ (yearns , yearning , yearned ) VERB If someone yearns for something that they are unlikely to get, they want it very much. □ [V + for ] He yearned for freedom. □ [V to-inf] I yearned to be a movie actor.
yearn|ing /jɜː r n I ŋ/ (yearnings ) N‑VAR [N to-inf] A yearning for something is a very strong desire for it. □ [+ for ] He spoke of his yearning for another child. □ He always had a yearning to be a schoolteacher.
-year-old /-j I ər-oʊld/ (-year-olds ) COMB [ADJ n] -year-old combines with numbers to describe the age of people or things. □ She has a six-year-old daughter. □ …their 200-year-old farmhouse in Ohio. ● COMB -year-old also combines to form nouns. □ Snow Puppies is a ski school for 3 to 6-year-olds.
yea r-rou nd ADJ [ADJ n] Year-round is used to describe something that happens, exists, or is done throughout the year. □ Cuba has a tropical climate with year-round sunshine. ● ADV Year-round is also an adverb. □ They work 7 days a week year-round.
yeast /jiː st/ (yeasts ) N‑VAR Yeast is a kind of fungus which is used to make bread rise, and in making alcoholic drinks such as beer.
yea st e x|tract (yeast extracts ) N‑VAR Yeast extract is a brown sticky food that is obtained from yeast. It can be used in cooking or spread on bread.