yammer

American  

[yam-er] / ˈyæm ər /

verb (used without object)

1. to whine or complain.

2. to make an outcry or clamor.

3. to talk loudly and persistently.

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verb (used with object)

1. to utter clamorously, persistently, or in complaint.

   They yammered their complaints until she let them see the movie.

noun

1. the act or noise of yammering.

yammer British  

/ ˈjæmə /

verb

1. to utter or whine in a complaining or peevish manner

2. to make (a complaint) loudly or persistently

3. (intr) (esp of an animal) to howl or wail plaintively or distressingly; yelp or yowl

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noun

1. a yammering sound, wail, or utterance

2. nonsense; jabber

Other Word Forms

• yammerer noun
• yammeringly adverb

Etymology

Origin of yammer

1275–1325; Middle English yameren (v.) < Middle Dutch jam(m ) eren, replacing Middle English yomeren, Old English gēomrian to complain, derivative of gēomor sad; akin to German Jammer lamentation

Explanation

To yammer is to make a loud, howling sound, or to talk on and on about nothing much at all. When cats yammer outside your window all night long, it's hard to fall asleep. You might complain about the way your neighbors yammer loudly in their yard early in the morning, or about the fact that your brothers yammer and fight all through dinner. Whether a person, an animal, or an inanimate object like a motorcycle yammers, it makes a pretty annoying sound. In the fifteenth century, yammer meant "to lament," from the Old English root geomor, "sorrowful."

Example Sentences

Nah, they’ll probably just yammer on about Brady.

From Washington Post • Feb. 7, 2021

I’ve listened to philosophers yammer ad nauseam about Kripke’s magnum opus, Naming and Necessity, and I sat in on a seminar with him in 2016.

From Scientific American • Mar. 23, 2019

As he drives a car, the adult Fox rides shotgun, filming him, letting him yammer on about the power of a child’s love.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 18, 2018

No media viewing experience seems complete without a second screen, where we can yammer with our friends on social media or in instant messages about what we are watching.

From New York Times • Jan. 25, 2015

Mrs. Jacobs began to yammer on about the formation of snowflakes—supercooled droplets, layers of atmosphere, blah blah—which was the same information Hazel had ignored from her mother three days ago.

From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu