yearned

Verb

yearn (third-person singular simple present yearns, present participle yearning, simple past and past participle yearned or (rare) yearnt)

1. (also, figuratively, intransitive) To have a strong desire for something or to do something; to long for or to do something.
   • All I yearn for is a simple life.

   Synonyms:

   pant, salivate, burn

   1. (also, figuratively, intransitive, specifically) To long for something in the past with melancholy or nostalgia.
      • If I don’t go now, thought Charlotte, I shall have lost a chance which I shall eternally regret and yearn after.1971, Iris Murdoch, An Accidental Man, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, published February 1972, →ISBN, page 420
2. (intransitive) Of music, words, etc.: to express strong desire or longing.
   • The music, yearning like a God in pain, / She scarcely heard: […]1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza VII, page 86
3. (dated, intransitive) To have strong feelings of affection, love, sympathy, etc., toward someone.
   • And Joſeph made haſte: for his bowels did yerne upon his brother: and he ſought where to weepe, and hee entred into his chamber, & wept there.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 43:30, column 1
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To be distressed or pained; to grieve; to mourn.
   • My father’s and my uncle Toby’s hearts yearn’d with ſympathy for the poor fellow’s diſtreſs,—[…]1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XVII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume II, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760...
5. (transitive) Often followed by out: to perform (music) which conveys or say (words) which express strong desire or longing.

See all 13 meanings of yearn