Dictionary

yarn

Etymology

From Middle English yarne, ȝern, yarn, from the Old English ġearn, from Proto-West Germanic *garn, from Proto-Germanic *garną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰorn-, *ǵʰer- ("tharm, guts, intestines").

Akin to Western Frisian jern, Dutch garen, German Garn, Danish garn, Swedish garn, Icelandic garn, Latin hernia, Ancient Greek χορδή, Sanskrit हिर. Compare also the obsolete doublet garn.

Pronunciation

(RP) enPR: yän, IPA: /jɑːn/
(America) enPR: yärn, IPA: /jɑɹn/

Noun

yarn

(uncountable) A twisted strand of fiber used for knitting or weaving.
(nautical) Bundles of fibers twisted together, and which in turn are twisted in bundles to form strands, which in their turn are twisted or plaited to form rope.
(countable) A story, a tale, especially one that is incredible.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
  I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.
- 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC ↗, page 218:
  "I'm hanged if I know how you've got the immortal rind to come at me with a yarn like this."

Synonyms

(story or tale) story, tale

Translations

French: fil
German: Garn
Italian: filo, filato
Portuguese: lã
Russian: пря́жа
Spanish: hilo, hilado, lana, hilaza

Translations

French: corde
German: Tau
Italian: cordame, cordaggio

Translations

Italian: trama, fandonia
Portuguese: trama
Russian: ба́йка
Spanish: cuento, historia

Verb

yarn (yarns, present participle yarning; simple past and past participle yarned)

(intransitive) To tell a story or stories, especially one that is lengthy or unlikely to be true.
- 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:
  "He yarns good," said Tom Platt. "T'other night he told us abaout a kid of his own size steerin' a cunnin' little rig an' four ponies up an' down Toledo, Ohio, I think 'twas, an' givin' suppers to a crowd o' sim'lar kids. Cur'us kind o' fairy-tale, but blame interestin'. He knows scores of 'em."
- 1935, Christopher Isherwood, Mr Norris Changes Trains (U.S. title: The Last of Mr Norris), Chapter Thirteen, in The Berlin Stories, New York: New Directions, 1963, p. 152,
  “Well, well!” exclaimed Mr. van Hoorn. “Here are the boys! As hungry as hunters, I’ll be bound! And we two old fogies have been wasting the whole afternoon yarning away indoors. My goodness, is it as late as that? I say, I want my tea!”

Translations

Russian: травим байки

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