English▸ verb [no object]
1 involuntarily open one's mouth wide and inhale deeply, typically on account of tiredness or boredom:
he began yawning and looking at his watch.
2 (of an opening or space) be very large and wide:
she started inching back from the abyss that yawned before her
the whole empty day yawned before me figurative.
▸ noun a reflex act of opening one's mouth wide and inhaling deeply, typically on account of tiredness or boredom:
he stretches and stifles a yawn.
▪ [in singular] informal a thing that is considered boring or tedious:
the film is just one big yawn.
– ORIGIN Old 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 century.