YOLO

phrase
/ˈjəʊləʊ/UK/ˈjoʊloʊ/US

Etymology

The phrase (not the acronym) "you only live once" dates to the 19th century according to research by Katherine Martin, head of U.S. Dictionaries at Oxford University Press. It saw a steady increase of usage from 1940 to 2000. Ben Zimmer, lexicographer, found the earliest usage of the acronym from 1993, in a trademark filed for YOLO gear with "you only live once" in small lettering. The acronym was popularized around 2011 by Canadian rapper Drake. YOLO was entered into the Oxford English Dictionary as a word on September 12, 2016.

Definitions

  1. Acronym of you only live once, i.e. expressing the view that one should make the most of…

    Acronym of you only live once, i.e. expressing the view that one should make the most of the present moment.

    • Making this cake mix eleven years past the expiration date, because YOLO!
    • “Well, it's too late to turn back now, Brandon,” Ana said. “And anyway… YOLO, right?” Brandon looked like he was about to explode, but finally he rubbed his eyes and nodded. “Yeah. YOLO.”
    • “It made me come to this conclusion of, I don’t know, YOLO, let me just try this,” he said.
  2. To make the most of the present moment.

    • Dario Amodei […] has cautioned that if the real numbers go off course, big spenders could face bankruptcy as a result of “Yolo-ing” on capital expenditure, a reference to some of his peers' you-only-live-once exuberance.
  3. Alternative letter-case form of YOLO.

  4. + 3 more definitions
    1. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Yolo County, California,…

      An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Yolo County, California, United States.

    2. An unincorporated community in Henry County, Missouri, United States.

    3. a village in the Ségou Region of Mali, West Africa.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for YOLO. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA