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# yarn

«yarn» in Mova's school dictionary: **long thread made of wool, cotton or other fibre, used for…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (yarn, yarns); verb (yarn, yarns, yarned, yarning — informal, Australia/NZ)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Yarn is long thread made of wool, cotton or other fibre, used for knitting, crocheting and weaving. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#m1)

2) (informal) A yarn is a long story, often one that is exciting or not quite true. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#m2)

3) (informal, Australia/NZ) A yarn is a chat; to yarn means to talk for a while in a friendly way. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In crafts lessons and stories yarn is what you knit with; a ball of yarn has a length that maths problems may share between people. In stories, «spin a yarn» means to tell a long, perhaps made-up tale. In Australian and New Zealand speech, «have a yarn» means have a chat. Phrases: «a ball of yarn», «spin a yarn», «have a yarn».

### examples

- Gran bought blue yarn to knit me a scarf. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#x1)
- The kitten played with a ball of yarn. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#x2)
- A ball of yarn is 60 metres long; how many 4-metre pieces can you cut? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#x3)
- Grandpa spun us a yarn about a giant fish. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#x4)
- Come over and have a yarn with us, mate. (Australia) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#x5)
- We sat on the porch yarning till dark. (Australia/NZ) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#x6)
- The rug is woven from thick wool yarn. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#x7)
- Habetrot soon overtook her, and placed the yarn in her hands. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/#x8)

### note

Yarn (thread) is usually uncountable: «some yarn», but «different yarns» for kinds. A story yarn is countable: «a yarn, yarns». Do not confuse with «yawn» (opening your mouth when tired).

### In the corpora

- [Toad: «You've been listening to some of the yarns they spin in the public-houses about here.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/68-willows-ch11-part4-the-secret-passage/15/)
- [To "spin a yarn" means to tell an invented story.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/11/)
- [Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for thy wares; massive iron, cassia, and calamus, were among thy merchandise.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/EZK.705/)
- [I have decked my couch with coverlets, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.192/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «yarn» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/Y/yarn/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.