yarn
UK /jɑːn/ · US /jɑɹn/ noun, verb
Forms yarns yarning yarned
- noun (uncountable) A twisted strand of fibre used for knitting or weaving.
- noun (nautical) Bundles of fibres twisted together, and which in turn are twisted in bundles to form strands, which in their turn are twisted or plaited to form rope.
- noun (countable) A story, a tale, especially one that is incredible. “spin a yarn”
- verb (intransitive) To tell a story or stories, especially one that is lengthy or unlikely to be true.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English yern, yarn, from the Old English ġearn (“yarn, spun wool”), from Proto-West Germanic *garn, from Proto-Germanic *garną (“yarn”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰorn-, *ǵʰerH- (“tharm, guts, intestines”).
Akin to West Frisian jern, Dutch garen (“yarn”), German Garn (“yarn”), Danish garn, Swedish garn (“yarn, thread”), Icelandic garn (“yarn”), Latin hernia (“rupture”), Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “string”), Sanskrit हिर (hira, “band”). Compare also the obsolete doublet garn.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Spun wool; woolen thread; also, thread of other material, as of cotton, flax, hemp, or silk; material spun and prepared for use in weaving, knitting, manufacturing sewing thread, or the like.
- noun One of the threads of which the strands of a rope are composed.
Etymology [OE. yarn, ýarn, AS. gearn; akin to D. garen, G., OHG., Icel., Sw., & Dan. garn; of uncertain origin. Cf. Cord.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “yarn”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details