"fold or crease in the external body," late 14c.; in cloth or clothing from early 15c., probably from wrinkle (v.). The meaning "defect, problem" is recorded by 1640s; that of "idea, device, notion" (especially a new one) is from 1817.

"making a sullen roar" (as the wind does), Northern England dialectal variant of Scottish and dialectal whithering "rushing, whizzing, blustering," from a verb whither (late 14c.) which was used in reference to gusts of wind and coughing fits, from Old Norse *hviðra (related to Norwegian kvidra "to go quickly to and fro," Old English hwiþa "air, breeze").

Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling. 'Wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed, in stormy weather. [Emily Brontë, "Wuthering Heights," 1847]

Charlotte also used forms of the word in her novels.

late 14c., originally in Scottish, from yell (v.).

"yeomen collectively," late 14c., from yeoman + -ry.

late 14c., "generous in rewarding," present-participle adjective from yield (v.). From 1660s as "giving way to physical force."

dialectal possessive pronoun from your, attested from late 14c., with -n as in mine, thine, etc.; see hers.

"passionate ardor in pursuit of an objective or course of action," late 14c., from Old French zel (Modern French zèle) and directly from Late Latin zelus "zeal, emulation" (source also of Italian zelo, Spanish celo), a Church word, from Greek zēlos "ardor, eager rivalry, emulation," "a noble passion" [Liddell & Scott], but also "jealousy;" from PIE *ya- "to seek, request, desire." From mid-15c. as "devotion."

"point of the heavens directly overhead at any place," late 14c., from Old French cenith (Modern French zénith), from Medieval Latin cenit, senit, bungled scribal transliterations of Arabic samt "road, path," abbreviation of samt ar-ras, literally "the way over the head." Letter -m- misread as -ni-.

The Medieval Latin word could as well be influenced by the rough agreement of the Arabic term with classical Latin semita "sidetrack, side path" (notion of "thing going off to the side"), from se- "apart" + *mi-ta-, a suffixed form of PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move." Figurative sense of "highest point or state" is from c. 1600.

late 14c., from Old French zodiaque, from Latin zodiacus "zodiac," from Greek zodiakos (kyklos) "zodiac (circle)," literally "circle of little animals," from zodiaion, diminutive of zoion "animal" (from PIE root *gwei- "to live").

Libra is not an animal, but it was not a zodiac constellation to the Greeks, who reckoned 11 but counted Scorpio and its claws (including what is now Libra) as a "double constellation." Libra was figured back in by the Romans. In Old English the zodiac was twelf tacna "the twelve signs," and in Middle English also Our Ladye's Waye and the Girdle of the Sky.

late 14c., from Latin zona "geographical belt, celestial zone," from Greek zōnē "a belt, the girdle worn by women at the hips," from zōnnynai "to gird," from PIE root *yos- "to gird" (source also of Avestan yasta- "girt," Lithuanian juosiu, juosti "to gird," Old Church Slavonic po-jasu "girdle"). The 10c. Anglo-Saxon treatise on astronomy translates Latin quinque zonas as fyf gyrdlas.

Originally one of the five great divisions of the earth's surface (torrid, temperate, frigid; separated by tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and Arctic and Antarctic circles); meaning "any discrete region" is first recorded 1822. Zone defense in team sports is recorded from 1927.