Oxford English and Spanish Dictionary, Synonyms, and Spanish to English Translator

Home UK English yarn

Meaning of yarn in English:

yarn

Pronunciation /jɑːn/

See synonyms for yarn

Translate yarn into Spanish

noun

1mass noun Spun thread used for knitting, weaving, or sewing.
‘hanks of pale green yarn’
- ‘a fine yarn for a lightweight garment’
- ‘There was a guy in there showing a girl how to spin yarn using a spindle.’
- ‘Typically, American stocking factories spun their own wool into yarn or thread.’
- ‘Older women continue to weave long, colorful sashes with red wool yarn on a white cotton background.’
- ‘Many of the second and third generation of settlers grew flax and spun and wove yarn in addition to tending a small farm.’
- ‘My mother sewed most of my clothes as a child, so I have an affinity for patterns, cloth, thread and yarn.’
- ‘It is made from silk or cotton yarn and is woven using a wooden loom.’
- ‘I have crewel yarn and silk thread, and I'm determined to make something of it.’
- ‘In another building, not far from where the sewing is taking place, cotton is spun into yarn and turned into a material.’
- ‘There is also a deep fascination with texture from the fine silk cotton yarn, to the merino and the matted felt coats she constructs.’
- ‘The cotton would be cleaned and then spun into yarn or thread.’
- ‘The cotton gets grown in India, then spun into yarn somewhere else, then dyed, knit, cut and sewn all in different countries.’
- ‘Raw flax and wool was spun into yarn, this was then dyed or bleached, woven into cloth and then cut and sewn into the garments their families needed.’
- ‘The floor was littered with baskets of differently-colored yarn and thread, and a few spinning wheels stood near the far end of the chamber.’
- ‘There was a curtain of blue beads and green and blue shells threaded with shimmering silver yarn, turning the doorway into a magical entrance to a seascape.’
- ‘The first water-powered cotton spinning mills typically expanded production by putting out yarn to be woven by members of farming families.’
- ‘Zhang created a steelworks at Wuhan, textile mills, and factories producing cement, glass, paper, cotton yarn and cloth, and leather goods.’
- ‘The plan now is to get hold of some fleece or other spinnable fibre, infuse it with power from various herbs and additives, spin it into yarn using my magic spindle, then weave it into magical cloth.’
- ‘The gold-coloured fibre is spun into a breath-taking range of textured yarn and woven into a spectrum of colourful floor coverings, wall hangings and artifacts.’
- ‘The use of wool, cotton, silk, flax, or some other plant or animal fibre yarn or thread to produce textiles of various sorts by criss-crossing the yarns together in at least two directions.’
- ‘Ann Kemp left Lancashire in the mid-1980s to farm on Islay, hand shearing her own rare breed sheep, spinning their wool into yarn, dyeing it with natural dyes and knitting it.’
thread, cotton, wool, fibre, filament, strand
View synonyms
2informal A long or rambling story, especially one that is implausible.
- ‘he never let reality get in the way of a good yarn’
- ‘The open fire is a focal point around which many yarns are spun and stories told.’
- ‘The detective yarn is one of the most formally defined modes of storytelling.’
- ‘It's a treat and guaranteed to having you curling up in laughter at some of the yarns and stories from times past.’
- ‘He was a gifted conversationalist and had many fine stories and yarns which he could embellish with style.’
- ‘They travelled from near and far to join in the celebrations with many swapping tales and yarns of growing up in the area.’
- ‘Since then he has kept returning to them, trying to find the real essential story behind the detective yarns.’
- ‘As all wine drinkers know, the Australian wine story is a great yarn.’
- ‘And maybe even worse than that, it seems we all have an appetite for good yarns like the story of the Harvard student.’
- ‘The spin doctors catch the civilian sheep off guard, whip up a public frenzy to support a whole new war, and spin one of the biggest yarns in modern history.’
- ‘Mix the ingredients and a compelling story emerges - not only because it is a cracking yarn but because we think we know most of the details already.’
- ‘But it's all still a tale, a yarn, a story, a narrative.’
- ‘This would contain short stories, poetry, yarns, jokes, etc.’
- ‘The Dock Museum is hosting a day of seasonal yarns and tall tales with renowned Lakeland storyteller Taffy Thomas on Saturday, December 18.’
- ‘The stories have the exaggerated feel of campfire yarns, amusing anecdotes you'd tell your buddy, but they are told from behind the standing mics, with guitars strapped in place.’
- ‘Carey satirizes literary culture, plays with archetypes, exoticism, and the convolutions of travel yarns, and evokes Malaysia and Indonesia with aplomb.’
- ‘John Cunliffe wrote his Pat stories after hearing yarns from the friendly man who ran his local Lake District post office, and used his own experience of running a mobile library in rural Northumberland.’
- ‘Enjoy an evening of spell-binding stories and ripping yarns at a special evening of storytelling at St Catherines Church, Patterdale Road, Windermere, on Friday.’
- ‘Thrillers, adventures, childhood yarns, shaggy dog stories, ‘straight’ fiction written with humour, heart and psychological insight.’
- ‘This is a monthly night out, and we are told it is also a very unique evening, where everyones gathers around the fire, and they travel from far and near and tell stories, swap yarns, ceol agus craic, and it is guaranteed to be a great night.’
- ‘I'm relieved to see the DVD catalogue is maturing fast, with standard movies joining what seemed to be almost exclusively blockbuster effect-laden thrillers and adventure yarns.’
story, tale, anecdote, fable, parable, traveller's tale, fairy story, rigmarole, saga, sketch, narrative, reminiscence, account, report, history
View synonyms
1. 2.1Australian, New Zealand A chat.
  ‘he had a bit of a yarn with the others’
  ‘But there's more to this attachment than a simple fondness for gossip or a good yarn.’
  ‘So she came around and I got to work on the iPod as we had a bit of a yarn.’
  ‘And he did exactly what I'd been trained to do; he sat down and we had a cup of tea at the table out there, a bit of a yarn.’
  ‘Whilst on the ride home I had a yarn with the driver.’
  ‘It encourages neighbours to lean across for a yarn.’
  ‘You'd always go to the Yeps for a chat, for a yarn.’
  ‘About 2 days ago Lawerence Chaytor, Bunny Young, George Hampson, Mace and myself had a great yarn.’
  ‘Except that other excuses intrude, like the heat or the rain or country dramas or rugby tournaments or lengthy yarns with people you don't need to have a yarn with in the first place.’
  ‘This place is as bad as the base for news. Just as I wrote that, he came in and had a yarn.’
  ‘We had a bit of a yarn with her, about life, plans, etc.’
  ‘We got hold of the busy café owner, who quickly passed us on to the brewer, who was happy to have a yarn with us.’
  ‘Buyers and other stud breeders travel from around the state and from interstate to inspect the rams on show, the quality of the wool produced and generally to have a bit of a yarn with colleagues.’
  ‘I saw Seymour yesterday and had a yarn with him - Also Ken Allen.’
  ‘So I mustered up enough good cheer to return their waves all the way there.By the time we arrived at Yulara, I was looking forward to a good yarn with some of these uniformly chirpy people.’
  ‘I got home, had a yarn with my Mum about the various things she had been doing as of late, that is to say she told me what she has been doing and I listened.’
  ‘Rene laughed at me, having overheard my long phone chat and assumed it was some old buddy, and I told her that no, it was still the Telstra guy, and we were having a yarn while his technology tried to sort itself out.’
  ‘In fact on his properties up around Cunnamulla and Bourke, he runs damaras, samms, dohnies, merinos and feral goats Meg Strang had a yarn with Ted about which breed is the best performer.’
  ‘Had a yarn to Lawerence Chaytor today.’
  ‘In respect for their own independent research, yet to be published, I have not used any new evidence that Justin O'Brien and James Warden have located, but I thank them for friendly yarns.’
  ‘In subsequent yarns with other friends and acquaintances, some of whom came to know him through working at Yuendumu, he also implied to them many more than 31, but I do not know of anyone who was given a specific estimate.’
  discussion, talk, chat, gossip, tête-à-tête, heart-to-heart, head-to-head, exchange, dialogue, parley, consultation, conference
  View synonyms

verb

[no object]

1informal Tell a long or implausible story.
- ‘they were yarning about local legends and superstitions’
- ‘Her mother taught her how to fish, dig for worms, catch seaworms, and swim, and then at night her mother, uncles and aunts would gather all the children around the campfire for a night of yarning.’
- ‘Daily activities such as meeting, talking, sitting, yarning, playing, working, painting and cooking are also processes that imbue a place with meaning and culture associated with the user group.’
- ‘There was no television; we had radio, but our main entertainment was sitting around yarning, and telling, recalling stories of childhood and the bush and the Depression and the War and so on.’
- ‘It is a fitting way to start an evening around the campfire yarning about Rex's exploits and adventures - intrepid journeys of exploration by the bushman and naturalist many call the founder of Australia's outback safari industry.’
- ‘For reasons I now do not recall, he yarned about the ‘early days, bad old days‘.’
- ‘Peace keepers who served in East Timor yarned with former prisoners of war, as Australian service men and women shared their experiences over a beer.’
1. 1.1Australian, New Zealand Chat; talk.
  ‘he sat yarning to his mother’
  ‘The interview has come to a close yet Clarke seems quite content to yarn.’
  ‘And that's precisely the reason old people love to yarn and natter with youngsters.’
  ‘Eventually all settled down to a well-cooked meal, then yarning and laughter.’
  ‘We yarned for a few minutes, during which time Mick's swingers were going up and down like yoyo's from line bites.’
  ‘They are run as in NZ & the girl who attended us started yarning to us and we kept it up.’
  ‘It rained off and on all day, and we were quite content to yarn with Jean Craigie, Ernie Smith, Stan Ombler and the rest of the hut occupants.’
  ‘It was generally believed, too, when I first yarned to people, that some of those who had fled had perished of exhaustion and thirst.’
  ‘She put in quite a reasonable quantity of time yarning with Norm Purves' good lady, and I had a beer or two with old Norm and some of the other chappies there.’
  ‘It was retrobate old Nugget Hunter (not to be confused with Nugget Morton) yarning with me in 1970.’
  ‘Why not produce an anthology of Aussie sonnets for the sheer pleasure of yarning amongst ourselves, without bothering to care who else may or may not be listening?’
  ‘Then if I have a day off sick I see them sitting on the front porch yarning, having a beer - or two or three - and later on playing cricket with the kids in the back yard.’
  ‘Some chums and I drank and yarned last night away in Noho at the Crown & Sceptre: cheers for a fun evening boys and girls.’
  ‘At tea-time and again the following morning, we're visited by members of the community, yarning with old ladies like Sheila, Amy and community leader Jessie and larking about in the river with a bevvy of energetic youngsters.’
  ‘And he was sitting there and he said Hello, and then we kind of got to yarning about what he did, and I said, ‘Oh well, my father was in the war,’ and he said, ‘What was his name?’’
  ‘He stood quietly near one of the old Coolibah trees in the Pioneers portion of ‘the Hill ‘, a legend and a gentleman, yarning to his many old friends and extended family members.’’
  ‘One morning, when one of the officers and several passengers were chatting and yarning in my cabin, the officer said to me: ‘I say, Major, you will be glad to hear that, on Sunday morning, we shall have service in the saloon…’