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Webster 1913 Edition


Yearn

Yearn

(yẽrn)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Yearned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Yearning
.]
[Also
earn
,
ern
; probably a corruption of OE.
ermen
to grieve, AS.
ierman
,
yrman
, or
geierman
,
geyrman
, fr.
earm
wretched, poor; akin to D. & G.
arm
, Icel.
armr
, Goth.
arms
. The
y-
in English is perhaps due to the AS.
ge
(see
Y-
).]
To pain; to grieve; to vex.
[Obs.]
“She laments, sir, for it, that it would yearn your heart to see it.”
Shak.
It
yearns
me not if men my garments wear.
Shakespeare

Yearn

,
Verb.
I.
To be pained or distressed; to grieve; to mourn.
[Obs.]
“Falstaff he is dead, and we must yearn therefore.”
Shak.

Yearn

,
Verb.
I.
&
T.
[See
Yearnings
.]
To curdle, as milk.
[Scot.]

Yearn

,
Verb.
I.
[OE.
yernen
,
ȝernen
,
ȝeornen
, AS.
geornian
,
gyrnan
, fr.
georn
desirous, eager; akin to OS.
gern
desirous,
girnean
,
gernean
, to desire, D.
gaarne
gladly, willingly, G.
gern
, OHG.
gerno
, adv.,
gern
, a., G.
gier
greed, OHG.
girī
greed,
ger
desirous,
gerōn
to desire, G. be
gehren
, Icel.
girna
to desire,
gjarn
eager, Goth. faíhu
gaírns
covetous,
gaírnjan
to desire, and perhaps to Gr.
χαίρειν
to rejoice, be glad, Skr.
hary
to desire, to like. √33.]
To be filled with longing desire; to be harassed or rendered uneasy with longing, or feeling the want of a thing; to strain with emotions of affection or tenderness; to long; to be eager.
Joseph made haste; for his bowels did
yearn
upon his brother; and he sought where to weep.
Gen. xliii. 30.
Your mother’s heart
yearns
towards you.
Addison.

Webster 1828 Edition


Yearn

YEARN

, YERN,
Verb.
I.
[G. The sense is to strain, or stretch forward. We have earnest from the same root.]
1.
To be strained; to be pained or distressed; to suffer.
Falstaff, he is dead, and we must yearn therefore.
2.
Usually, to long; to feel an earnest desire; that is literally, to have a desire or inclination stretching towards the object or end. 1 Kings 3.
Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother. Genesis 43.
Your mothers heart yearns toward you.
--Anticlus, unable to control, spoke loud the language of his yearning soul.

YEARN

, YERN,
Verb.
T.
To pain; to grieve; to vex.
She laments for it, that it would yearn your heart to see it.
It yearns me not if men my garments wear.

Definition 2024


yearn

yearn

English

Verb

yearn (third-person singular simple present yearns, present participle yearning, simple past and past participle yearned)

  1. (intransitive, construed with for) To long, have a strong desire (for something).
    • All I yearn for is a simple life.
  2. (intransitive, construed with for) To long for something in the past with melancholy, nostalgically
  3. (intransitive) To be pained or distressed; to grieve; to mourn.
    • Shakespeare
      Falstaff he is dead, and we must yearn therefore.
  4. (transitive) To pain; to grieve; to vex.
    • Shakespeare
      It would yearn your heart to see it.
    • Shakespeare
      It yearns me not if men my garments wear.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

See yearning (rennet).

Verb

yearn (third-person singular simple present yearns, present participle yearning, simple past and past participle yearned)

  1. (Scotland) To curdle, as milk.

Etymology 3

Conflation of yearn and yen (desire, craving).

Noun

yearn (plural yearns)

  1. (nonstandard) yen; yearning
    • 1917 August 12, "A YEARN FOR PEACE; Pan-Germanism Denounced" Sunday Times (Perth, WA) p.1
    • 1979 Norman Mailer, The Executioner's Song
      Gibbs now said he wasn't going to pull any punches with Gary when he knew how jealous a man could get, so he also wanted to tell him that Phil Hansen was reputed to have a yearn for attractive ladies.
    • 2010 Frank Buchmann-Moller Someone to Watch Over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster (University of Michigan Press) ISBN 0472025988 p.57
      "After he had made a record date with us in 1935, I always had a yearn for Ben," he said years later.
    • 2014 February 13, AFP, "Why internet adultery numbers are soaring" New Zealand Herald
      "My guess, however, is that it has because there are many people who have a yearn for sex outside their relationship but wouldn't have the slightest idea about how to do it or do it safely," Prof Schwartz added.

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