yarn

[yahrn]

noun

1. thread made of natural or synthetic fibers and used for knitting and weaving.

2. a continuous strand or thread made from glass, metal, plastic, etc.

3. the thread, in the form of a loosely twisted aggregate of fibers, as of hemp, of which rope is made rope yarn.

4. a tale, especially a long story of adventure or incredible happenings.

   He spun a yarn that outdid any I had ever heard.

verb (used without object)

1. Informal.,  to spin a yarn; tell stories.

yarn

/ jɑːn /

noun

1. a continuous twisted strand of natural or synthetic fibres, used in weaving, knitting, etc

2. informal,  a long and often involved story or account, usually telling of incredible or fantastic events

3. informal

   1. to tell such a story

   2. to make up or relate a series of excuses

verb

1. (intr) to tell such a story or stories

Word History and Origins

Origin of yarn¹

before 1000; Middle English; Old English gearn; cognate with German Garn; akin to Old Norse gǫrn gut, Greek chordḗ intestine, chord ¹, Lithuanian žarnà entrails, Latin hernia a rupture, Sanskrit hirā vein

Word History and Origins

Origin of yarn¹

Old English gearn; related to Old High German garn yarn, Old Norse görn gut, Greek khordē string, gut

Idioms and Phrases

see spin a yarn.

Example Sentences

Herodotus was an anthropological Autolycus, a spinner of yarns from Halicarnassus, a Greek colony in Asia Minor.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

During their first class they chose the legend of Baby Blue — a time-worn grade-school yarn about a ghost named Baby Blue who appears if you say her name three times in a row.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A shoemaker in town constructed the ball out of double-twisted woolen yarn, covered in calf’s skin.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Sarah is an avid crafts enthusiast, with an abundance of yarn, beads and other art materials in her home.

Read more on BBC

The web of their lives “is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together,” to filch from Shakespeare, and Venable combines virtues and vices in unexpected patterns.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• fleece 
• thread 
• wool