yawn

verb

/jɔːn/

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they yawn	/jɔːn/ /jɔːn/
he / she / it yawns	/jɔːnz/ /jɔːnz/
past simple yawned	/jɔːnd/ /jɔːnd/
past participle yawned	/jɔːnd/ /jɔːnd/
-ing form yawning	/ˈjɔːnɪŋ/ /ˈjɔːnɪŋ/

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[intransitive] to open your mouth wide and breathe in deeply through it, usually because you are tired or bored
- He stood up, stretched and yawned.
- We couldn't help yawning during the speech.
- + speech ‘Wow,’ she yawned, ‘a customer.’
Extra Examples
- He got fed up of people yawning at him when he talked about his job.
- He sat up and yawned hugely.
- I was so tired I couldn't stop yawning.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adverb
- hugely
- widely
- loudly
- …
verb + yawn
- make somebody
- hear somebody
preposition
- at
phrases
- can’t stop yawning
See full entry
[intransitive] (of a large hole or an empty space) to be very wide and often frightening and difficult to get across synonym gape
- A crevasse yawned at their feet.
- (figurative) There's a yawning gap between rich and poor.

Word OriginOld English geonian, of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin hiare and Greek khainein. Current noun senses date from the early 18th cent.

yawn

noun

/jɔːn/

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an act of yawning
- She stifled another yawn and tried hard to look interested.
Extra Examples
- He struggled to stifle a yawn.
- He tried to conceal his yawn behind his hand.
- The little boy gave a huge yawn.
- The speech was greeted with a collective yawn from the press gallery.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- big
- deep
- huge
- …
verb + yawn
- fight back
- hold back
- stifle
- …
yawn + verb
- escape
preposition
- with a yawn
See full entry
[usually singular] (informal) a boring event, idea, etc.
- The meeting was one big yawn from start to finish.

Word OriginOld English geonian, of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin hiare and Greek khainein. Current noun senses date from the early 18th cent.