yearn

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to have affection for

   I yearn for them.

2. 2
   verb

   to have a desire for something or someone who is not present

   I yearn to go on a trip abroad.

3. 3
   verb

   to desire strongly or persistently

   The old couple yearned for simpler times.

4. 4
   verb

   To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.

   All I yearn for is a simple life.

5. 5
   verb

   Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing.

   The music, yearning like a God in pain, / She scarcely heard: […]

6. 6
   verb

   To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone.

   And Joſeph made haſte: for his bowels did yerne upon his brother: and he ſought where to weepe, and hee entred into his chamber, & wept there.

7. 7
   verb

   To be distressed or pained; to grieve; to mourn.

   My father’s and my uncle Toby’s hearts yearn’d with ſympathy for the poor fellow’s diſtreſs,—[…]

8. 8
   verb

   To cause (someone) to have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc.; also, to grieve or pain (someone).

   Well, ſhe laments Sir for it, that it would yern your heart to see it: […]

Etymology

Probably either: * a variant of earn (“to curdle, as milk”) (though this word is attested later), from Middle English erne, ernen (“to coagulate, congeal”) (chiefly South Midlands) [and other forms], a metathetic variant of rennen (“to run; to coagulate, congeal”), from Old English rinnan (“to run”) (with the variants iernan, irnan) and Old Norse rinna (“to move quickly, run; of liquid: to flow, run; to melt”), both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise, spring”); or * a back-formation from yearning (“(Scotland, archaic) rennet; calf (or other animal’s) stomach us…