a. [In sense 1 OE. ʓeornfull, f. ʓeorn YERN a.; in senses 2 and 3 f. YEARN v.1: see -FUL 1.]

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  † 1.  Eagerly desirous, anxious, solicitous. Obs.

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c. 888.  Ælfred, Boeth., xxii. § 2. Ðu ær sædest þæt þu swiðe ʓeornfull wære hit to ʓehyranne.

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c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke x. 41. Martha martha ʓeornfull þu eart & embe fela þinga ʓedrefed.

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c. 1200.  Ormin, 1631. Beo ȝeorrnfull Crist to cwemenn.

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c. 1275.  Duty of Christians, 100, in O. E. Misc., 144. We schulde abute cristes lay Beon yeornfulle & clybbe.

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c. 1375.  Sc. Leg Saints, xvi. (Magdalen), 780. & scho sa ȝarnful wes þar-til, Þat scho til wildirnes has socht, & fand a derne sted, was wrocht In til a crage of angil wark.

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  2.  Mournful, sorrowful.

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a. 1566.  R. Edwards, Damon & Pithias (1571), D j. Oh Musicke,… lend me thy yernfull tunes, to vtter my sorow.

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1583.  Melbancke, Philotimus, T j. So out of thy stonye hearte maye yet flowe suche water, as may wash and purge my yearnfull woundes.

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1591.  Greene, Maidens Dr., Wks. (Grosart), XIV. 303. She wet his visage with a yearnfull streame.

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1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage, VI. xi. 522. Ala, Ala, was their yernfull note.

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1889.  J. K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat, xix. The wild yearnful melody.

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  † 3.  Full of compassion. Obs.

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1633.  P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., IX. xlvi. His yearnfull heart pitying that wretched sight.

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  Hence Yearnfully adv.; † Yearnfulness, eagerness, diligence.

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c. 888.  Ælfred, Boeth., xxiv. § 3. Sume tiliað mid micelre ʓeornfulnesse wifa.

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c. 960.  Æthelwold, Rule St. Benet, iv. (Schröer, 1885), 17. Þæs ecean lifes he sceal mid ealre ʓeornfulnesse ʓirnan.

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c. 1200.  Ormin, 11181. Swa þatt himm birrþ fra þeþennforþ Wiþþ mikell ȝeorrnfullnesse…. To follȝhenn Godess laȝheboc.

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a. 1884.  Walt Whitman, After the Sea-Ship, 9. Larger and smaller waves in the spread of the ocean yearnfully flowing.

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