Obs. rare. [Of doubtful status, origin, and meaning. Perh. Du. Janke, applied orig. to a particular ship, and so identical with YANKEE (q.v.). The following examples of Yankee in the proper names of ships may be compared:—
1776. M. Cutler, in Life, etc. (1888), I. 55. They were in the Yankee Hero.
1813. Examiner, 10 Jan., 22/1. The Yankee, American schooner privateer.]
1760–1. Smollett, Lancelot Greaves, iii. Proceed with thy story in a direct course, without yawing like a Dutch yanky.
1904. P. Fountain, Great North-West, xvii. 195–6. A yanki is a small kind of galiot, and the Dutch fur-traders used craft of this kind to ascend the rivers in search of their Indian customers.
