Forms: α. 1 ʓinian, ʓyn-, ʓionian, ʓeon-, ieon-, ʓenian, 3 ȝeon(i)e, ȝonie, 3–4 ȝone, yone, 3–5 ȝeone, ȝene, yene, 4 ȝyne, 6 yeane. β. 4–5 ȝane, 4–6 yane. γ. 6–7 yawne, 6–8 yaun, 6– yawn. [OE. ʓinian, ʓeonian = OHG. ginôn, -ên (MHG. ginen), MDu. gênen to gape, yawn, related to the synonymous OE. gánian GANE v. (q.v.), OHG. geinôn, and OE. gínan, ON. gína. The vocalism of the present form of this word is difficult to account for. The normal representatives of the OE. and early ME. forms (ȝene, ȝone) would be *yeen and *yoan. Later ME. yane prob. arose through regional contact with GANE v. The 16th cent. yaun, yawn, may have been the result of special local development of yane or yone.]
† 1. intr. To open the mouth wide voluntarily, esp. in order to swallow or devour something; in early use often, to have the mouth wide open; to gape. Said also of the mouth. Obs.
α. c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), B 24. Battat, ʓeonath. Ibid., G 4. Garrit, ʓionat.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 50. Bewyl twy dæl on wætre ʓeot on bollan & ʓeona ymb.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), xxi. 11 [xxii. 13]. Hi todydon heora muð onʓean me, swa swa leo, þonne he ʓeonað.
a. 1100. Aldhelm Gloss., I. 2409 (Napier 65). Hiulco, i. aperto, ieoniendum, rostro, i. ore, bile.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 242. Ȝif þu iseie … ȝeonien wide uppon þe, þene deouel of helle.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 292. Þat me ne chide wit þe gidie Ne wit þan ofne me ne ȝonie.
a. 1290. S. Eustace, 156, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 214. A wilde lioun … kipt his ȝonge sone anon, On him he ȝenede wide.
13[?]. Sir Beues (A.), 2763. Ȝenande & gapande on him so, Ase he wolde him swolwe þo.
13[?]. K. Alis., 485 (Linc. Inn MS.). Him þouȝte a goshauk wiþ gret flyȝt Setliþ on his herberyng And ȝeniþ [Laud MS. ȝyneþ] and sprad abrod his wyngyn.
c. 1400. Arth.& Merl., 1583. (Linc. Inn MS.). His mouþ and þrote ȝonede wide. Ibid. (14[?]), 1117. (Douce MS.). And wiþ his mouþ he ȝenede wyde.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 200. Then anon come … a gret horryble dragon and ȝeonet [v.r. ȝanyng] on her.
β. 13[?]. Coer de L., 276. Upon hys crest a raven stode, That yaned as he wer wode.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Macc. vi. 18. Eleasarus … ȝanynge [v.r. ȝonyng] with open mouth, was compellid for to ete swynys flesh.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. x. (Tollem. MS.). The rauen biholdeþ þe mouþe of hire briddes, whan þey ȝaneþ. Ibid., XVI. vi. [Auripigmentum] helpeþ tisik … if þey ȝaneþ þeron and takeþ þe smoke þerof.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 151. Multitudes of Crocodiles lyinge in the sande, and yanyng to take the heate of the soonne.
γ. 1568. Hacket, trans. Thevet’s New found World, xx. 32. This fish is named Marsouin,… he hath … on the heade a certayne cundite or opening, by the which he yawnneth or purgeth, euen as the Whale [orig. Fr. par lequel il respire ainsi que la balene].
1603. Holland, Plutarch’s Mor., 970. The crocodiles … yawne and offer there teeth unto them to be picked and clensed with there hands.
2. To lie, stand, or be wide open, as a chasm, abyss, or the like; to have or form a wide opening, gap, or chasm.
α. c. 890. Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial., 52. Beneoðan swiðe deop niwolnys ʓinode [v.r. ʓeonode].
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 304. Bineoðen us, ȝeoniinde wide þe wide þreote of helle.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 4. Vndyr hym helle ȝeonyng, and galpyng, and spyttyng fyre.
γ. 1599. Shaks., Hen. V., IV. vi. 14. The gashes That bloodily did yawne vpon his face.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., VI. 730. Wide yawns the gap; connexion is no more.
1795. Cowper, Needless Alarm, 14. And where the land slopes to its wat’ry bourn, Wide yawns a gulph beside a ragged thorn.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. xxxi. As sudden ruin yawned around. Ibid. (1829), Anne of G., xxxiii. A private staircase which yawned in the floor to admit their descent.
1865. Gosse, Land & Sea (1874), 241. The beach yawning some thirty feet below.
1877. Miss A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, xxi. 648. Here yawns a great pit half full of débris.
1890. W. Clark Russell, Ocean Trag., ii. It was the Isle of Wight, and the shore on either hand went yawning to it till it looked a day’s sail away.
fig. 1580. Spenser, Let. to Harvey, H.’s Wks. (Grosart), I. 35. The onely, or chiefest hardnesse,… is in the Accente: whyche sometime gapeth, and as it were yawneth ilfauouredly.
† 3. To yawn after or for, to be eager to obtain, to long for. Obs.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1403. Þe gost … ȝeoneþ after more & more An lutel rehþ of milce & ore.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 283. After he hath caught that within his clawes, after which he was euer yawning.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., Pref. iv. § 3. The chiefest thing which lay reformers yawne for is, that the Cleargie may … be Apostolicall.
4. To make involuntarily a prolonged inspiration with the mouth wide open and the lower jaw much depressed, as from drowsiness or fatigue.
α. 1450–80. trans. Secr. Secr., xxxiv. 23. Suche a man yeneth often, and hath sumtime disese in his eyen.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, cxlvii. 54. The pacient wyll be colde and oft yeane or gape, yf this feuer be putryfied.
1598. Bp. Hall, Sat., VI. ii. 101. Had he heard the Female Fathers grone, Yeaning in mids of her procession.
β. c. 1430. How Good Wife taught Dau., 56, in Babees Bk. (1868), 38. Lauȝe þou not to loude, ne ȝane þou not to wide.
a. 1529. Skelton, E. Rummyng, 331. She began to yane and gaspy.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke viii. 78. [He] wil stande gapyng & yanyng whan he should geue eare as though he wer more then half in slepe.
1557. Edgeworth, Serm., 261. He yaned seuen tymes, and opened his eyes, reuiued, and liued.
1570. Levins, Manip., 19/7. To Gane, yane, oscitare.
γ. 1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Thess. 7. Those that yawne and slumbre in naughtinesse, are occupied in darknesse of the soule.
1622. Gataker, Spirituall Watch (ed. 2), 67. The very sight of those that yawne is wont to set others also on yawning.
1721. Bolingbroke, in Swift’s Lett. (1766), II. 41. You shall be forced to read it out, though you yawn from the first to the last page.
1836. J. H. Barrow, Mirr. Parl., I. 818/1. Mr. O’Connell here yawned so loudly as to interrupt the Honourable Member.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. iii. It must be owned that the audience yawned through the play, and that it perished on the third night.
1880. ‘Ouida,’ Moths, ii. I thought I should have yawned till I broke my neck.
b. To open the mouth wide from surprise or the like; to gape. Obs. or dial.
1604. Shaks., Oth., V. ii. 101. Me thinkes, it should be now a huge Eclipse Of Sunne, and Moone; and that th’affrighted Globe Did yawne at Alteration. Ibid. (1607), Cor., III. ii. 11. To shew bare heads In Congregations, to yawne, be still, and wonder [etc.].
1887. F. T. Havergal, Heref. Gloss., Yarning, = staring. ‘Stand yarning there.’ E.
c. trans. To say or utter with a yawn or with wide-open mouth. Also with cognate object.
1718. Rowe, trans. Lucan, I. 394. Scorning the wound he [sc. the lion] yawns a dreadful roar.
1828. Macaulay, Poems, Political Georgics, 30. Let all in bulky majesty appear, Roll the dull eye, and yawn th’unmeaning cheer.
1854. Dickens, Hard T., III. ii. ‘It wouldn’t be bad,’ he yawned at one time, ‘to give the waiter five shillings, and throw him.’
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 243. One immense fellow … yawns a yawn a yard wide.
d. To bring into some position or condition by, or to the accompaniment of, yawning; also occas., to pass through in a lethargic manner.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., III. 336. For what live ever here?… To surfeit on the same, And yawn our joys? Ibid., VIII. 614. No man e’er found a happy life by chance; Or yawn’d it into being, with a wish.
1817. Lady Morgan, France, II. (1818), I. 247. The Dalai lamas of haut ton, who yawn away their existence in the assemblies of London.
1880. [H. W. Lucy], in Daily News, 29 Oct., 6/2. He literally yawned us out of the room.
a. 1903. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Last Hope, i. He … politely yawned that reminiscent fish-curer into silence.
5. intr. To open wide as a mouth; to form a chasm; to gape, part asunder.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, V. iii. 19. Graues yawne and yeelde your dead.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 875. Hell at last Yawning receavd them whole, and on them clos’d.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 7 Feb. 1645. The sea retiring neere 200 paces, and yawning on the sudaine, it continued to vomit forth flames and fiery stones.
1713. Young, Last Day, I. 87. The valleys [shall] yawn, the troubled ocean roar.
1820. Scott, Monast., xii. If the earth yawned and gave up a demon.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, lvi. When the silent tomb shall yawn, Captain Gills, I shall be ready for burial; not before.
1852. Tennyson, Ode Wellington, 269. The black earth yawns: the mortal disappears; Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
6. trans. To cause to open wide.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. xxxiv. [xxxv.] 21. Thei ȝeneden [v.r. maden large, Vulg. dilataverunt] their mouth upon me.
a. 1653. G. Daniel, Idyll., II. 31. The monstrous Whale (wch Roles The Ocean, wth his Breath, and Yawnes the Brine As its Recesse).
1798. Southey, Grandmother’s Tale, 85. She stood beside the murderer’s bed, and yawn’d Her ghastly wound.
7. To make, produce, or afford by opening wide.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. III. Law 1220. The groaning Earth … Tearing her rocks, untill she Yawn a way To let it out, and to let-in the Day.
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. lxiii. None felt stern Nature … yawning forth a grave for those who lay Upon their bucklers for a winding-sheet. Ibid. (1821), Sardanap., II. i. 422. The realm itself, in all its wide extension, Yawns dungeons at each step for thee and me.
1907. Gertrude Lynch, in Smart Set, March, 41/2. The prison doors were yawning a welcome for the runaways.
8. Comb. yawn-mouthed a., yawning, gaping.
1861. Chr. Rossetti, Prince’s Progr., xxix. Out it [sc. a light] flashed from a yawn-mouthed cave, Like a red-hot eye from a grave.
