Yawn
[jɔːn] or [jɔn]
Definition
(noun.) an involuntary intake of breath through a wide open mouth; usually triggered by fatigue or boredom; 'he could not suppress a yawn'; 'the yawning in the audience told him it was time to stop'; 'he apologized for his oscitancy'.
(verb.) utter a yawn, as from lack of oxygen or when one is tired; 'The child yawned during the long performance'.
Checked by Bonnie--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To open the mouth involuntarily through drowsiness, dullness, or fatigue; to gape; to oscitate.
(v. i.) To open wide; to gape, as if to allow the entrance or exit of anything.
(v. i.) To open the mouth, or to gape, through surprise or bewilderment.
(v. i.) To be eager; to desire to swallow anything; to express desire by yawning; as, to yawn for fat livings.
(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.
(n.) The act of opening wide, or of gaping.
(n.) A chasm, mouth, or passageway.
Editor: Myra
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. [1]. Gape, oscitate.[2]. Open-wide.
Inputed by Estella
Definition
v.i. to open the jaws involuntarily from drowsiness: to gape: to gape with astonishment.—n. the opening of the mouth from drowsiness.—adj. Yawn′ing gaping: opening wide: drowsy.—n. act of opening wide or gaping: a modification of the ordinary movements of respiration in which the inspiration is deeper than usual accompanied by a kind of spasmodic contraction of the muscles which depress the lower jaw and by a great elevation of the ribs and to some degree of the shoulder-blades.—adv. Yawn′ingly.
Edited by Denny
Unserious Contents or Definition
The air-breaks on a sleeper.
Typed by Angelo
Examples
- Bedroom candlesticks bristle on the distant table by the door, and cousins yawn on ottomans. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the clock. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Miss Pocket laughed, and Camilla laughed and said (checking a yawn), The idea! Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- He began to knock the heels of his boots together, and to yawn. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- She placed her hand to her forehead and breathed heavily; and then her rich, romantic lips parted under that homely impulse--a yawn. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Here George Osborne gave a yawn. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- When his assumed name had been repeated several times, Noah rubbed his eyes, and, giving a heavy yawn, looked sleepily about him. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- They had no sense of the other possibility, the gulf of the republican extremists, that yawned at their feet. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Then she was dragged toward those awful fangs which yawned at her throat. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- The lawn, the grounds were trodden and waste: the portal yawned void. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- It wouldn't be bad,' he yawned at one time, 'to give the waiter five shillings, and throw him. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- But the Colonel yawned sadly among the Duchesses and great ladies of the Court. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- A black hole yawned beneath into which we all peered, while Musgrave, kneeling at the side, pushed down the lantern. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- The jackal removed the towels from his head, which had been steaming again, shook himself, yawned, shivered, and complied. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Sir Percival was yawning in an easy-chair, the Count was reading, Madame Fosco was fanning herself. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Most likely, said Marie, yawning,--dear me, how hot it is! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- When they came out, Mr. Superintendent was excited, and Mr. Sergeant was yawning. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- For here all seems fallen asunder, in wide-yawning dislocation. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Becky's former acquaintances hated and envied her; the poor woman herself was yawning in spirit. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The empty carrier then passes through a little door at the side of the building, and drops into the yawning mouth of an automatic tube. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- O, well, said Marie, yawning, that, of course--nobody doubts that. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The Turkish dignitary yawns and expresses signs of weariness and idleness. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- What were the yawns of Lady Bertram? Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- The cousin, who has been casting sofa-pillows on his head, in a prostration of boredom yawns, Vayli, being the used-up for very likely. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- He found Holmes leaning languidly against the mantelpiece, resigned and patient, endeavouring to conceal his irrepressible yawns. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Again the arch yawns; they come. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- There no dense partition of yawns and toilets divides humanity by night from humanity by day. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
Typist: Rudy