Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of yawning.
  • noun The state of being drowsy or inattentive; dullness.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of gaping or yawning.
  • noun Unusual sleepiness; drowsiness; dullness; stupidity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of gaping or yawning.
  • noun Drowsiness; dullness; sluggishness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of yawning
  • noun drowsiness, especially when marked by yawning

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun drowsiness and dullness manifested by yawning
  • noun an involuntary intake of breath through a wide open mouth; usually triggered by fatigue or boredom

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From oscitant, yawning, from Latin ōscitāns, ōscitant-, present participle of ōscitāre, to yawn : ōs, mouth; see ōs- in Indo-European roots + citāre, to move; see keiə- in Indo-European roots.]

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