/yang"kee/ , n.
1. a native or inhabitant of the United States.
2. a native or inhabitant of New England.
3. a native or inhabitant of a northern U.S. state, esp. of one of the northeastern states that sided with the Union in the American Civil War.
4. a federal or northern soldier in the American Civil War.
5. a word used in communications to represent the letter Y.
6. Mil. the NATO name for a class of Soviet ballistic missile submarine, nuclear powered, with up to 16 missile launchers.
adj.
7. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a Yankee or Yankees: Yankee ingenuity.
[ 1750-60, Amer.; perh. back formation from D Jan Kees John Cheese, nickname (mistaken for plural) applied by the Dutch of colonial New York to English settlers in Connecticut ]