Forms: 1 ʓearn, 4 ȝern, iern, yaarn, 4–6 yern(e, 5 ȝarn(e, ȝieren, yeern, 5–7 yarne, 6 yaren, yarone, yeryn, yorne, 6–7 yearne, 7 yearn, 5– yarn. [OE. ʓearn str. n. = WFris. jern, NFris. jaarn, juarn, MDu. gaern, gar(e)n (Du. garen), OHG., MHG., G. garn yarn, † net, ON. (Sw., Da.) garn (whence GARN sb.); app. f. the root represented also by *garnô in ON. gǫrn, pl. garnar guts, and *garnjo- in OE. micgern, OS. midgarni, OHG. mittigarni MIDGERN (= entrail-fat, suet), and related (outside Teutonic) to Lith. žárna intestine, L. hariolus soothsayer, haruspex one who divined the future from an inspection of the entrails of victims, Gr. χορδή intestine (CHORD). (Cf., moreover, Skr. hirâ vein, L. hīra empty gut, hillæ :— *hirl- smaller intestines.)]
Originally, spun fiber, as of cotton, silk, wool, flax; now, usually, fiber spun and prepared for use in weaving, knitting, the manufacture of sewing-thread, etc.
Also with qualification, as cotton, linen, woollen yarn.
c. 1000. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 238/27. Filatum, ʓearn.
c. 1050. Suppl. Ælfric’s Gloss., ibid., 187/30. Glomus, unwunden ʓearn.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 157. A klewe of yarn. Ibid. Do my yaarn on the reel.
1376. Rolls of Parlt., II. 353/1. Tout maner de ȝern.
1391. in W. Hudson, Leet Jurisd. Norwich (1892), 75. x hespys de Irlond-yern pretii iiij. d.
1420. E. E. Wills (1882), 46. Item dimidium þe ȝieren and wolle that is in this house.
1511–12. Act 3 Hen. VIII., c. 6 § 1. The carder and Spynner to delyver agayn to the same Clothier yerne of the same Woll.
a. 1552. Leland, Itin. (1769), VII. 47. Good Marchandis at Lyrpole, and moch Yrisch Yarn that Manchester Men do by ther.
1552–3. Inv. Ch. Goods, Stafford, in Ann. Lichfield (1863), IV. 6. On cope of whitte & blewe yorne.
1607. Shaks., Cor., I. iii. 93. You would be another Penelope: yet they say, all the yearne she spun in Vlisses absence, did but fill Athica full of Mothes.
1748. in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1918), 28. We had about eighty Score of Yarn stole out of garth.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 53. Well-tann’d hides,… With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn … in the cushion fixt.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 707. The manufacturers obtain the finer sorts of yarn chiefly from Yorkshire and Ireland.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xiii. A long stocking of mixed blue and white yarn.
fig. 1601. Shaks., All’s Well, IV. iii. 84. The webbe of our life, is of a mingled yarne, good and ill together.
1831–4. De Quincey, Cæsars, Wks. 1862, IX. 32. In the mingled yarn of human life.
transf. 1862. Johns, Brit. Birds, 56. Eggs, from which emerge … bodies enveloped in a soft plush of grey yarn.
b. collect. sing. put for fishermen’s nets. dial.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. xvii. 20. I wil cast my net aboute him, and catch him in my yarne. Ibid., Hab. i. 15. They take vp all with their angle, they catch it in their net, & gather it in their yarne [Luther Garn].
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., Yarn, ‘Take the yarn,’ said of herrings when they strike the net.
c. In Rope-making, one of the threads of which a strand of rope is composed (= ROPE-YARN 1), or these threads collectively.
1627. [see SPUN-YARN 2].
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 59. Yarn, called twenty-five, twenty, and eighteen thread yarn, differs only in the fineness: the twenty-five being finer than the twenty.
1831–3. P. Barlow, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 753. The first part of the process of rope making is that of spinning the yarn or threads.
1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 28. 18-yarn spunyarn. Ibid., 51. If it is for boltrope 3 inches in circumference, each strand will have 30 yarns.
2. To spin a yarn (fig., orig. Naut. slang), to tell a story (usually a long one); also, ‘to pitch a tale.’ Hence yarn = a (long) story or tale: sometimes implying one of a marvellous or incredible kind; also, a mere tale. colloq.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. Yarning or spinning a yarn, signifying to relate their various adventures, exploits, and escapes to each other.
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ix. Come, spin us a good yarn, father. Ibid. (1835), Pacha of Many T., xvii. ‘You must tell lies, and you will have gold.’ ‘Tell lies! that is, spin a yarn; well, I can do that.’
1837–42. Hawthorne, Twice-told T. (1851), II. vi. 97. Like uncle Parker,… I am a spinner of long yarns.
1887. Poor Nellie, I. 299. Catch them spinning any of their yarns to me!
1897. Hall Caine, in Humanitarian, XI. 234. What I mean is that without motive a story is not a novel, but only a yarn.
1903. Dublin Rev., July, 131. All further developments of these traditions were mere ‘yarns.’
3. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 1) yarn ball, hose, -man, rope, scales, spindle, stockings, thread, twine; yarn-buyer, -factoring, -jobber, manufacture, -manufacturer, -seller; (sense 2) yarn-slinger, -teller; yarn-clue, a ball of yarn; yarn-croft Obs. exc. dial., a rope-yard; yarn-dyed a., dyed while in the state of yarn or thread; yarn-frame, -guide (see quots.); yarn-house, a building in which yarns are stored; yarn-reel (see quot.); yarn-roll = YARN-BEAM.
For other names of apparatus used in yarn manufacture see Knight’s Dict. Mech.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 295/2. Pila paganica,… a bal stuft with soft wooll or haire, and vsed to be tossed from hand to hand: a tossing ball: a *yarne ball.
1763. Museum Rust., I. 11. The eagle-sighted *yarn-buyer.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxxii. (Old Play). Like to the *yarn-clew of the drowsy knitter, Dragg’d by the frolic kitten through the cabin.
1634–5. Brereton, Trav. (Chetham Soc.), 11. A dainty quay here is, and many *yarne-crofts here about.
1885. Hummel, Dyeing Textile Fabrics, 289. If in any dyed woollen fabric … the dyeing took place while it was in the state of thread or yarn, it is said to be *yarn-dyed.
1841. Lever, O’Malley, xxviii. A race of linen-weaving, Presbyterian-*yarn factoring fellows.
1831–3. P. Barlow, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 755/1. The yarn reels were placed individually in a stationary frame at the head of the rope-ground, and it appears that the register was to be conveyed onwards towards the *yarn frame, as the strand was twisted by the hook of a sledge, at the end where the process commenced, until the whole strand was made. Ibid., 756/2. The *yarn guide, or perforated plate, through which the rope yarns pass individually to concentre at the press block.
1578. in Nichols, Progr. Q. Eliz. (1823), II. 144. Eyght small women chyldren spinnyng worsted yarne, and … as many knittyng of worsted *yarne hose.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 60. After yarn is tarred, it is laid in the *yarn-house to harden.
1720. Lond. Gaz., No. 5878/8. William Hill,… *Yarne-jobber.
1637. Bury Wills (Camden), 168. Goodman Howes, of Bury, *yarneman.
1882. Encycl. Brit., XIV. 664/2. The whole operations in *yarn manufacture comprise (1) heckling, (2) preparing, and (3) spinning.
1783. Specif. Patent, No. 1365. 1. Thomas Baker, of Derby … *Yarn Manufacturer.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 88. A *Yarn-reel is a circular board, nailed in the middle to a piece of oak,… 16 inches long, and is used to wind spun-yarn on.
1831. G. R. Porter, Silk Manuf., III. iii. 215. A weight … suspended over the *yarn-roll to produce the requisite tension of the threads of the warp.
1534. in F. W. Weaver, Wells Wills (1890), 49. A *yerynrope.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxxi. The *yarn scales in the weigh-house.
1705. Lond. Gaz., No. 4188/4. Richard Corbett, of Spittle-fields, *Yarn-seller.
1897. Barrère & Leland, Dict. Slang, *Yarn-slinger, one who writes tales in newspapers.
1820. W. Tooke, trans. Lucian, I. 736. She draws the *yarn-spindle from her bosom.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4056/8. Blue *Yarn Stockings.
1863. Hawthorne, Our Old Home, II. 219. Knitting coarse yarn stockings.
1891. Tablet, 7 Nov., 742. The most confirmed American *yarn-teller.
1833. J. Rennie, Alph. Angling, Pref. p. xiii. My *‘yarn thread’ was strong enough to twitch out the trout to the green bank where I stood.
c. 1600. J. Keymer, Dutch Fishing (1664), 7. To make Cables and Cordage, likewise *Yarn Twine, and Thred for the makeing of Nets and Lines.
