Word.ws English Dictionary

spin a yarn

spin a yarn verb: to tell or create a story, especially one which is lengthy or far-fetched.

Verb

spin a yarn (third-person singular simple present spins a yarn, present participle spinning a yarn, simple past and past participle spun a yarn)

  1. (idiomatic) To tell or create a story, especially one which is lengthy or far-fetched.
    • Now I must tell you a little about myself;—or rather, I am inclined to spin a yarn, and tell you a great deal.1864, Anthony Trollope, chapter 14, in Can You Forgive Her?
    Synonyms:
    spin a tale

Synonyms of spin a yarn

Forms of spin a yarn

third-person singular presentspins a yarn
present participlespinning a yarn
past participlespun a yarn
pastspun a yarn

Origin of spin a yarn

By metaphor from spinning fibers into yarn or thread, as for example at a spinning wheel.

Words formed from spin a yarn

Questions about spin a yarn

What does spin a yarn mean?
Spin a yarn means to tell or create a story, especially one which is lengthy or far-fetched.
What part of speech is spin a yarn?
Spin a yarn is a verb.
What is the past tense of spin a yarn?
The past tense of spin a yarn is spun a yarn.

Words near spin a yarn in the dictionary

  1. spimmers
  2. spimming
  3. spims
  4. spin
  5. spin a tale
  6. spin a yarn
  7. spin bath
  8. spin baths
  9. spin bike
  10. spin bikes
  11. Spin Boldak

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spin a yarn (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-spin a yarn.ogg.

Cite this entry: “spin a yarn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spin_a_yarn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.