Definition of yankee

What does the word yankee mean?

• part of speech: noun

  Inhabitant of New England; Federal soldier or inhabitant of northern States in American civil war; (in Eng. & Europ. use) inhabitant of United States., American; (attrib.) of or as of the Yy. (Y. notions, American appliances &c.); Y. Doodle, American tune& song regarded as a national air; yankeefied, of acquired Y. character[-FY]. Hence Yankeedom, Yankeeism (2, 4), nn. [English]