Definition of "yetling"
yetling
noun
countable and uncountable, plural yetlings
(UK, chiefly Scotland, obsolete) Cast iron.
Quotations
Having afterwards resolved upon renewing the armament, they instructed the Dean of Guild " to sell the auld pieces callit heidsticks being in the steeple to the gritest avail, and wair and bestow the money gotten therefor upon sufficient yetling ordinance to the common use of the burgh."
1884, The History of Old Dundee, Narrated Out of the Town Council Register, pages 212–213
(UK, chiefly Scotland, by extension) A small cauldron, or rounded pot, typically, but not always, made of cast iron.
Quotations
Still, it occurs to me that Yetlington is more probably indebted to its name from being the spot where " yetlings" were made. To this day the metal pot used by the muggers is known by that appellation in its immediate neighhourhood, and bears a striking resemblance to a sacred utensil used during the sacrifices of the Romans.
1842, Local Collections; Or, Records of Remarkable Events, Connected with the Borough of Gateshead, page 50
(UK, chiefly Scotland) A small cast iron ball.
Quotations
A more recent conjecture traces a connection between it and the game still, or not long ago, played at New Year with yetlings or balls of cast iron on the sands near the Skilleys of Wemyss, in which, as in the North German Klotschiessen, the player who drives the ball to the goal in the fewest number of strokes wins.
1896, The County Histories of Scotland - Volume 4, page 231