Definify.com
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.
[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. begehren
, Icel. girna
to desire, gjarn
eager, Goth. faíhugaírns
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.
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.
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)
- (intransitive, construed with for) To long, have a strong desire (for something).
- All I yearn for is a simple life.
- (intransitive, construed with for) To long for something in the past with melancholy, nostalgically
- (intransitive) To be pained or distressed; to grieve; to mourn.
- Shakespeare
- Falstaff he is dead, and we must yearn therefore.
- Shakespeare
- (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.
- Shakespeare
Derived terms
Translations
to have a strong desire; to long
|
|
to long for something in the past with melancholy
Etymology 2
See yearning (“rennet”).
Verb
yearn (third-person singular simple present yearns, present participle yearning, simple past and past participle yearned)
Etymology 3
Conflation of yearn and yen (“desire, craving”).
Noun
yearn (plural yearns)
-
(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.