Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
in bridge/whist, a hand with no card above a nine, 1874, said to be so called for an unnamed Earl of Yarborough who bet 1,000 to 1 against its occurrence.
Wiktionary
n. (label en card games) A hand, in bridge or whist, that has no card with a value greater than nine (and no aces), though in some circles it is no card above a ten.
Wikipedia
Yarborough is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
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Charles Anderson-Pelham, 2nd Earl of Yarborough, after whom the bridge hand is named
- A yarborough is an especially weak hand in contract bridge
- Cale Yarborough, retired NASCAR driver and three time Winston Cup Champion
- Emmanuel Yarborough, American Sumo wrestler
- Ralph Yarborough (1903–96), Texan politician
- William P. Yarborough, Brigadier General during the Kennedy administration
Usage examples of "yarborough".
FROM AN ASSOCIATED PREss BULLETIN: Space Agency and UpLink International Pledge to Keep ISS on Track Despite Shuttle Disaster Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral-In a joint statement released late this afternoon through NASA press spokesman Craig Yarborough , agency officials and Roger Gordian, whose firm, UpLink International , is chief contractor of the ISS project, have declared their undivided commitment to resuming assembly of the orbital station as soon as possible.