Forms: 1 ʓiorna, ʓeornan, ʓiernan, ʓirnan, ʓyrnan, 2–4 ȝierne, ierne, 2–5 ȝerne, 3 ȝirn(e, (Orm.) ȝeorrnenn, 3–4 ȝorn(e, 3–6 ȝern, 4 ȝiern, yhern(e, ȝharn(e, ȝaren, 4–5 ȝyrn(e, 4–6 ȝarn(e, yarne, 4–7 yerne, 4–8 yern, 5 yurn, herne, 6 yo(u)rn, Sc. ȝairne, yairne, 6–7 yearne, 6– yearn. [OE., Northumb. ʓiorna, Mercian ʓeornan, WS. ʓiernan, corresp. to OS. girnean, gernean, ON. girna (see GREEN v.2), Goth. gaírnjan, related to OE. ʓeorn, Goth. -gaírns: see YERN a. and YERE v.]
I. † 1. trans. To desire earnestly; to experience a strong desire or longing for. a. with simple obj.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., xv. Ne diorwyrðra hræʓla hi ne ʓirndan.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xxii. 21. Hwi ʓyrne we ʓyt ʓewitnesse?
c. 1000. O. E. Chron. (MS. D), an. 1067. Ða begann se cyngc Malcholom ʓyrnan his sweostor him to wife.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 43. Ðare ðinge ðe on ðesse worlde waren he ne ȝernde.
c. 1205. Lay., 17795. Cnihtes feollen a-dun & ȝirnden heore dæðes.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 192. Muche word is of ou hu … ȝe beoð vor godleic & for ureoleic iȝerned of monie.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 23458. Fair Iuels … men yerns oft.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 152. Þis man wole no þyng yerne But youre honour.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (Verse), 485. Mor we suld ȝern hele of saule Þan of bodi.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1407. For þat þou art brent With couetyse now,… þou ȝernest soules cure.
a. 1450. Ratis Raving, 3790. At E nocht seis, hart nocht ȝarnis.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxi. 19. We ȝarne thy presens, bot oft thow hes refusit Till cum ws till.
1568. Lauder, Godle Tractate, 627. That death ȝe ȝairne, it sall fast frome ȝow fle.
† b. with obj. clause. Obs.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xliv. 331. Hwile ðe he ʓiernð ðæt he his weolan iece.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxiii. 8. Ne ʓyrne ʓe þæt eow man lareowas nemne.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., vi. 28. Lest eny reve me my make, ychabbe y-ȝyrned ȝore.
13[?]. Cursor M., 1801 (Gött.). Þai ȝernid þan, þa caitifes madd, Þat þai had ben wid noe stadd.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, iii. (Andrew) 423. I ȝarne þe Of corse to here þe priwete.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., V. ii. 260. Octoviane ȝarnyt hym to be His ayr.
2. intr. To have a strong desire or longing; to long. a. Const. inf. with († or without) to.
971. Blickl. Hom., 53. Þa halʓan … naht ne … ʓyrndon to hæbbenne.
c. 1000. Poenitentiale Ecgberti, I. § 10, in Thorpe, Laws, II. 176. Ʒif se man … ʓyrneð Cristes lichaman to underfonne.
c. 1200. Ormin, 3578. Crist wass æfre swillc to sen … Þatt gode ȝeorrndenn himm to sen.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1. Man yhernes rimes for to here. Ibid., 6479. Þi neghbur wijf ȝerne noght at haue.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 6705. For hungre þai sal yherne it ete.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 158. The kynryk ȝharn I nocht to have.
a. 1395. Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), I. xvi. Ȝit shalt thou ȝerne … for to come as nere as þou mayst to þat state.
a. 1568. Wowing of Jok and Jynny, 9, in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club), 387. I yern full fane To … sit down by yow.
a. 1616. Beaum. & Fl., Bonduca, II. iv. I must do that my heart-strings yern to do.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 142, ¶ 3. My gushing Heart, that … yearns to tell you all its Achings.
1805. Southey, Madoc, II. xiii. A female tenderness which yearn’d, As with maternal love, to cherish him.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, lv. The child yearned to be out of doors.
1879. Dixon, Windsor, II. iv. 38. He had a daughter whom he yearned to hail as queen.
b. Const. after, for, † to, towards. Also absol.
c. 893. Ælfred, Oros., VI. xxviii. He ofsloʓ Proculus & Bonorum, þa ʓierndon eac æfter þæm onwalde.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 27. Þe godfrihte … ne ȝierneð to none þinge bute after godes wille. Ibid., 183. Ðus wareð þe sowle þe licame, for þat hit haueð þarafter ierned.
a. 1225. Juliana, 8. He biȝet et te keiser þat he him ȝettede reue to beonne as þat he iȝirnd hefde.
1340. Ayenb., 55. Þe þridde boȝ of þise zenne is to uerliche yerne to þe mete ase deþ þe hond.
1357. Lay Folks Catech. (T.), 560. Tham that ledis thair lifs als thaire flesch yhernes.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2937. Yonge men & yeuerus … yurnes to gaumes.
1573. Satir. Poems Reform., xlii. 750. Thay pepill … That … ȝarnis for fude with sa greit zeill.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1688), IV. 503. His Maw began to yern again after some of the Figs.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., II. 367. His heart yearned after the damsel who was to inherit these domains.
1868. Tennyson, Lucretius, 266. Yearn’d after by the wisest of the wise.
1870. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 440. I yearn for the country again.
transf. 1635. Pagitt, Christianogr., 213. Sacriledge is one of the most detestable sinnes, after which Gods curse yearneth, til he be revenged.
† 3. trans. To express a wish or desire for (an object); to ask for, request. Also absol. or intr.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Mark x. 46. Mendicans, ʓiornade [Rushw. ʓiornde].
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Mark xi. 24. Swa hwæt swa ʓe ʓyrnende biddað ʓelyfað þæt ʓe hit onfoð.
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 656. Þa ʓeornde seo abbe þet he scolde him tyþian þet he æt him ʓeornde. Ibid., 777. He ʓeornde at se kyning þet he scolde for his luuen freon his ane mynstre Wocingas het. Ibid., 1011. Se cyng & his witan … ʓeorndon friðes.
c. 1205. Lay., 929. Ȝirne we to þane kinge Ȝeuen suiðe gode. Ibid., 8250. King Androgeus ȝeorneð þi grið.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 2420. Lauerd,… ȝette me þet ich ȝirne.
1340. Ayenb., 39. Þe uerþe boȝ of auarice is acsynge, þet is, to yerne opo oþre mid wrong.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 67. Ȝernes now of my ȝift þat ȝou leue were, & what it be þat ȝe bidde ȝour bonus i graunte.
† 4. intr. Of hounds: To cry out eagerly, give tongue. Also trans. to give tongue after. Obs.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 1409. The howndes began to yerne and to quest.
a. 1530. Heywood, Weather (Brandl), 276. That after our houndes yournynge so meryly,… In herynge we may folow.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, lxv. 181. You muste holde your yong Terryers euery one of them at a sundrie hole of some angle or mouth of the earth, that they may herken and heare theyr fellowes yearne. Ibid., lxvi. 185. When they percieue the Terryers beginne to yearne them.
1674. N. Cox, Gentl. Recr. I. (1677), 18. When Beagles bark and cry at their Prey, we say, they Yearn.
† b. transf. Obs.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 100. Nymphs in mountayns high typ doe squeak, hullelo, yearning.
1639. G. Daniel, Ecclus. xxii. 4. He shall be soiled in the vnsavory Slime From Dunghills gather’d; all Men yerne at him.
1680. Hickeringill, Curse ye Meroz, 26. A Holder-forth may yawl and yerne, snivle and whine, thump and bawl.
5. a. intr. To give a sound suggestive of strong desire; to express yearning or strong desire; also trans. to utter in emotional voice.
1816. L. Hunt, Rimini, I. 40. Yearns the deep talk, the ready laugh ascends.
1820. Keats, Eve St. Agnes, vii. The music, yearning like a God in pain.
1856. Dickens, Househ. Words, 3 May, 368/2. While the organ was yearning its last, and the great throng was pushing to the doors.
1894. Le Gallienne, Prose Fancies, 22. The kind of voice … in which Socialist actresses yearn out passages from ‘The Cenci.’
b. To have an appearance as of longing.
1870. Rossetti, Burden of Nineveh, ix. The faces of thy ministers Yearned pale with bitter ecstasy.
1871. Swinburne, Songs bef. Sunrise, Tenebrae, 92. The blossom of man from his tomb Yearns open.
1890. W. Clark Russell, Ocean Trag., I. v. 95. The jibs yearning from their sheets taut as fiddle-strings.
II. 6. intr. To be deeply moved; to be moved with compassion; to have tender feelings; † to mourn, grieve. In first quot. app. trans. to have compassion upon.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxv. 11. Ȝerne ws, guberne, wirgin matern.
a. 1533. Frith, Another Bk. agst. Rastell, ii. B iv. The … slender reasons that those ii. wytted men, syr Thomas More and my lorde of Rochestre had brought to confyrme purgatory made my harte to yerne.
1539. Bible (Great), 1 Kings iii. 26. Her bowelles yerned vpon her sonne.
1562. Cooper, Answ. Priv. Masse (1850), 56. Any christian heart may rather yearn and lament to remember so ungodly profanation of the holy sacrament.
1577. Harrison, England, II. x. (1877), I. 217. To raise pitifull and odious sores, and mooue the goers by such places where they lie, to yerne at their miserie.
1602. Davison, Rhapsody (1611), 30. They in their bleating voice did seeme to yearne.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., ci. The horror of Imaginary Death Strikes deep wth flesh; and all Mortalitye Yernes at a Change.
1665. Brathwait, Comm. Two Tales (1901), 21. It would make any ones heart yern within him, that has any man’s blood in him.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 123, ¶ 5. I have left your Mother in the next Room. Her Heart yearns towards you.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xliii. With her gentle nature yearning to them both, feeling the misery of both.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xxii. (1878), 406. My heart was yearning over her.
† b. To be reluctant to do something. Obs. rare.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1612), 53. [He] committed such excesse of crueltie, that the most barbarous heathen in the world would haue yearned to doe.
† 7. trans. To cause to mourn; to move to compassion. Obs.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., V. v. 76. O how it yern’d my heart, when I beheld … That horse. Ibid. (1598), Merry W., III. v. 45. She laments Sir for it, that it would yern your heart to see it.
1641. J. Shute, Sarah & Hagar (1649), 94. Who … torture them, in that manner, that it yerns a mans bowels to observe!
Hence Yearned ppl. a.; also Yearner, one who yearns.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xl. (Ninian) 724. Lofare of vertu & dyspysare or þe warld, of hewine ȝarnar.
1616. B. Jonson, Epigr., xlii. That his long yearn’d life Were quite out-spun.
1838. S. Bellamy, Betrayal, 82. What if that vow Thy Father’s yearn’d heart, all impatiently, Hath quench’d in its embrace.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 30 Oct., 10/1. The yearned-for visitor.
1915. A. Bennett, Over There, 186. The yearners after Calais did themselves no good by exterminating fine architecture and breaking up innocent homes, but they did experience the relief of smashing something.
