[syn: drowsy, oscitant, yawning(a)]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Yawn \Yawn\ (y[add]n), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Yawned; p. pr. &
vb. n. Yawning.] [OE. yanien, [yogh]anien, ganien, gonien,
AS. g[=a]nian; akin to ginian to yawn, g[imac]nan to yawn,
open wide, G. g[aum]hnen to yawn, OHG. gin[=e]n, gein[=o]n,
Icel. g[imac]na to yawn, gin the mouth, OSlav. zijati to
yawn, L. hiare to gape, yawn; and perhaps to E. begin, cf.
Gr. cheia` a hole. [root]47b. Cf. Begin, Gin to begin,
Hiatus.]
[1913 Webster]
1. To open the mouth involuntarily through drowsiness,
dullness, or fatigue; to gape; to oscitate. "The lazy,
yawning drone." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
And while above he spends his breath,
The yawning audience nod beneath. --Trumbull.
[1913 Webster]
2. To open wide; to gape, as if to allow the entrance or exit
of anything.
[1913 Webster]
't is now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. To open the mouth, or to gape, through surprise or
bewilderment. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. To be eager; to desire to swallow anything; to express
desire by yawning; as, to yawn for fat livings. "One long,
yawning gaze." --Landor.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
yawning
adj 1: gaping open as if threatening to engulf someone or
something; "the yawning mine shaft"; "a yawning abyss"
2: with the mouth wide open indicating boredom or sleepiness; "a
yawning congregation"
3: showing lack of attention or boredom; "the yawning
congregation" [syn: drowsy, oscitant, yawning(a)]
n 1: an involuntary intake of breath through a wide open mouth;
usually triggered by fatigue or boredom; "he could not
suppress a yawn"; "the yawning in the audience told him it
was time to stop"; "he apologized for his oscitancy" [syn:
yawn, yawning, oscitance, oscitancy]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
76 Moby Thesaurus words for "yawning":
abysmal, abyssal, agape, ajar, anesthetized, bottomless,
cataleptic, cavernous, comatose, deep as hell, dehiscence,
dehiscent, doped, doziness, dozy, dreamy, drowsiness, drowsy,
drugged, drugged with sleep, fathomless, gape, gaping, half asleep,
heaviness, heavy, heavy with sleep, heavy-eyed, in a stupor,
languid, languor, lethargic, lethargy, napping, narcoleptic,
narcose, narcotized, narcous, nodding, openmouthed, oscitancy,
oscitant, oscitation, out of it, pandiculation, plumbless,
plunging, ringent, sedated, slack-jawed, sleep-drowned,
sleep-drunk, sleep-filled, sleep-swollen, sleepful, sleepiness,
sleepy, slumberous, slumbery, snoozy, somnolence, somnolency,
somnolent, soporific, soundless, stretching, stretchy, stuporose,
stuporous, the gapes, unfathomable, unfathomed, unsounded,
without bottom, yawn, yawny