[f. YAWN v. + -ING2.] That yawns.
1. That opens the mouth wide, esp. in order to swallow or devour something; chiefly transf. of the mouth, wide open.
c. 890. Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial., 156. He ʓemette on þam weʓe standan sumne dracan onʓæn hine mid ʓeniendum [v.r. ȝiniendum] muþe.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 80. Ne blowe ȝe hire nout ut mid maðelinde muðe, ne mid ȝeoniinde tuteles.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (A.), 4117. A lyoun þai seye cominde þo,… Wiþ ȝenende [14(?) Caius MS. yanyng] mouþe, & weri he was.
c. 1475. Partenay, 5852. An horrible serpent … With a yanyng throte gain hym gan Auaunce.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 187. As thoughe they wolde with yanynge mouthes haue torne in sunder the bealy of the mannes Image.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 73. Now will I dam vp this thy yawning mouth, For swallowing the Treasure of the Realme.
1617. J. Taylor (Water P.), Three Weekes Observ., B iv b. His eies well dried, would make good Tennis-balls,… his yawning mouth would serue for a Conniborrow.
1693. Congreve, in Dryden’s Juvenal, xi. (1697), 289. Large yawning Panthers.
2. Opening, or open wide, as the earth, a chasm, abyss, etc.
c. 893. Ælfred, Oros., Contents III. iii. Hu Marcus Curtius besceat on þa ʓeniʓendan [v.r. ʓyniendan] eorþan.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xxi. [xix.] (1890), 322. For openre wunde & ʓeoniendre.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 35. He … Vpon his crested scalpe so sore did smite, That to the scull a yawning wound it made.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 635. Both Sin, and Death, and yawning Grave.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 172. Cards, with what rapture, and the polish’d die, The yawning chasm of indolence supply!
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., xxiv. I. 420. Many houses were swallowed up by the yawning earth, which closed immediately over them.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. xxv. 363. Strains which, having once rent the ice, tend subsequently to … produce yawning crevasses.
1884. Gilmour, Mongols, 87. A lofty pass … surrounded with yawning precipices.
3. That yawns from weariness; transf. characterized by or producing yawning, drowsy, sleepy.
1575. Gascoigne, Flowers, Wks. 1907, I. 58. The stretching armes, ye yauning breath, which I to bedward use.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 204. The sad-ey’d Iustice … Deliuering ore to Executors pale The lazie yawning Drone. Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. ii. 43. The shard-borne Beetle, with his drowsie hums, Hath rung Nights yawning Peale.
1617. Hieron, Wks., II. 108. Many formall, idle, and (as I may call them) yawning requests for mercy.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., II. Disc. ix. 122. It is impossible to prevent them … any more than we can … refuse to yawn when I see a yawning sleepy person.
1740. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 204. Everyone sees that the yawning husband, and the vapourish wife, are truly insupportable to one another.
1764. Wilkes, Corr. (1805), II. 96. The account of the character of Mr. Legge is the most yawning pamphlet I ever read.
1826. Scott, Woodst., xv. Here am I … ready to fight, if this yawning fit will give me leave.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxx. The yawning, shaking, peevish figure of the mother.
Hence Yawningly adv.
1629. Bp. Hall, Hypocrite, Wks. 1634, II. 361. Leaning upon your idle elbow yawningly.
1840. Fraser’s Mag., XXII. 17. The caliph received … yawningly the countless homages.
1876. Miss Broughton, Joan, I. x. She looks out yawningly towards her friend, the sea.
