YAWN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Yawn

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noun

Yawn n.

An involuntary act, excited by drowsiness, etc., consisting of a deep and long inspiration following several successive attempts at inspiration, the mouth, fauces, etc., being wide open. "One person yawning in company will produce a spontaneous yawn in all present."

The act of opening wide, or of gaping.

A chasm, mouth, or passageway. (R.) "Now gape the graves, and trough their yawns let loose Imprisoned spirits."

verb

Yawn v. i. (past & past part. yawned; pres. part. yawning)

To open the mouth involuntarily through drowsiness, dullness, or fatigue; to gape; to oscitate. "The lazy, yawning drone." "And while above he spends his breath, The yawning audience nod beneath."

To open wide; to gape, as if to allow the entrance or exit of anything. "'t is now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn."

To open the mouth, or to gape, through surprise or bewilderment.

To be eager; to desire to swallow anything; to express desire by yawning; as, to yawn for fat livings. "One long, yawning gaze."

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Etymology of 'Yawn'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Yawn" Quotes from Famous Books

... You are not fit to be alone." I tried to call up my pride, and laugh off the accusation against my courage, all the more, perhaps, because I felt its truth. "Do you want anything more that I can get you, Lady Speldhurst?" I asked, trying to feign a yawn of sleepiness. The old dame's keen eyes were upon me. "I rather like you, my dear," she said, "and I liked your mamma well enough before she treated me so shamefully about the christening dinner. Now, I know you are frightened and fearful, and ...

— Stories by Modern American Authors • Julian Hawthorne

... itself. It is no light praise, mind you, when one says that every touch is the record of a tireless observation—you have only to look at a great Sir Joshua to see that quite half of every canvas is merely a recipe, a painted yawn in fact, as the intensity of his vision relaxed; but in a Velasquez your attention is riveted by the passionate search of the master and his ceaseless absorption in the thing before him—and this is all the more astounding because the work is hardly ever conceived ...

— The Mind of the Artist - Thoughts and Sayings of Painters and Sculptors on Their Art • Various

... are getting too horrid technical for me," said Charteris, with a yawn. "I don't know what you feel about turning in, Hal, but your unfortunate servants will certainly think they ain't going home till morning. I have been riding ...

— The Path to Honour • Sydney C. Grier

... always seem so much harder to learn when one's just come back after the holidays?" propounded Marjorie Butler with a melancholy yawn. ...

— The Manor House School • Angela Brazil

... with a lover's customary eloquence till a late hour in the night. Wilkinson was all patience; but about one o'clock he began to yawn, and then they went to bed. Early on the following morning, Bertram ...

— The Bertrams • Anthony Trollope

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