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Yearn

//jɜːn// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun

1
A strong desire or longing; a yearning, a yen.
"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."

Verb

1
To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something. also, figuratively, intransitive
"All I yearn for is a simple life."
2
Of milk: to curdle, especially in the cheesemaking process. Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive
3
have affection for; feel tenderness for wordnet
4
To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.; To long for something in the past with melancholy or nostalgia. also, figuratively, intransitive, specifically
"If I don’t go now, thought Charlotte, I shall have lost a chance which I shall eternally regret and yearn after."
5
Of cheese: to be made from curdled milk. Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive

Show 10 more definitions

6
have a desire for something or someone who is not present wordnet
7
Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing. intransitive
"The music, yearning like a God in pain, / She scarcely heard: […]"
8
To curdle (milk), especially in the cheesemaking process. Northern-England, Scotland, transitive
9
desire strongly or persistently wordnet
10
To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone. dated, intransitive
"And Joſeph made haſte: for his bowels did yerne upon his brother: and he ſought where to weepe, and hee entred into his chamber, & wept there."
11
To make (cheese) from curdled milk. Northern-England, Scotland, transitive
"Also his Honour the Duke will accept ane of our Dunlop cheeses, and it sall be my faut if a better was ever yearned in Lowden."
12
To be distressed or pained; to grieve; to mourn. intransitive, obsolete
"My father’s and my uncle Toby’s hearts yearn’d with ſympathy for the poor fellow’s diſtreſs,—[…]"
13
Often followed by out: to perform (music) which conveys or say (words) which express strong desire or longing. transitive
14
To have a strong desire or longing (for something or to do something). archaic, poetic, transitive
15
To cause (someone) to have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc.; also, to grieve or pain (someone). obsolete, transitive
"Well, ſhe laments Sir for it, that it would yern your heart to see it: […]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

The verb is derived from Middle English yernen, yern (“to express or feel desire; to desire, long or wish for; to lust after; to ask or demand for”) [and other forms], from Old English ġeornan (“to desire, yearn; to beg”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan (“to be eager for, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *girnijaną (“to desire, want”), from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) (from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to yearn for”)) + *-janą (suffix forming factitive verbs from adjectives). The noun is derived from the verb.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Probably either: * a variant of earn (“to curdle, as milk”) (though this word is attested later), from Middle English erne, ernen (“to coagulate, congeal”) (chiefly South Midlands) [and other forms], a metathetic variant of rennen (“to run; to coagulate, congeal”), from Old English rinnan (“to run”) (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna (“to move quickly, run; of liquid: to flow, run; to melt”), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”); or * a back-formation from yearning (“(Scotland, archaic) rennet; calf (or other animal’s) stomach used to make rennet”).

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