Yarn

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Yarn, n. [OE. yarn, \'f4arn, AS. gearn; akin to D. garen, G., OHG., Icel., Sw., & Dan. garn; of uncertain origin. Cf. Cord.].

•  Spun wool; woolen thread; also, thread of other material, as of cotton, flax, hemp, or silk; material spun and prepared for use in weaving, knitting, manufacturing sewing thread, or the like.  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the threads of which the strands of a rope are composed.  [1913 Webster]
•  A story told by a sailor for the amusement of his companions; a story or tale; as, to spin a yarn.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Yarn, n. & v.
--n.
1 any spun thread, esp. for knitting, weaving, rope-making, etc.
2 colloq. a long or rambling story or discourse.
--v.intr. colloq. tell yarns.

Etymology

OE gearn

THESAURUS

Yarn

account, anecdotage, anecdote, belly laugh, blague, blue story, braid, brail, cable, causerie, chat, chin, chronicle, cock-and-bull story, colloque, cord, dirty joke, dirty story, double entendre, epic, epos, ethnic joke, exaggeration, fable, fabrication, fairy tale, falsehood, falsity, farfetched story, farrago, fib, fiction, fish story, flam, flimflam, fun, funny story, gag, ghost story, good one, good story, half-truth, howler, jape, jest, jestbook, joke, laugh, legal fiction, lie, ligament, ligation, ligature, line, little white lie, mendacity, narration, narrative, panic, pious fiction, play, point, prevarication, prose, rap, rib tickler, riot, rope, saga, scream, sick joke, sidesplitter, sight gag, slight stretching, sport, spun yarn, story, strand, string, tale, talk, tall story, tall tale, taradiddle, tendon, thong, thread, trumped-up story, twine, twist, untruth, visit, visual joke, wheeze, white lie, whopper, wire, wow

ROGET THESAURUS

Yarn

Filament

N filament, line, fiber, fibril, funicle, vein, hair, capillament, cilium, cilia, pilus, pili, tendril, gossamer, hair stroke, veinlet, venula, venule, wire, string, thread, packthread, cotton, sewing silk, twine, twist, whipcord, tape, ribbon, cord, rope, yarn, hemp, oakum, jute, strip, shred, slip, spill, list, band, fillet, fascia, ribbon, riband, roll, lath, splinter, shiver, shaving, beard, ramification, strand, filamentous, filamentiferous, filaceous, filiform, fibrous, fibrillous, thread-like, wiry, stringy, ropy, capillary, capilliform, funicular, wire-drawn, anguilliform, flagelliform, hairy, taeniate, taeniform, taenioid, venose, venous.

Exaggeration

N exaggeration, expansion, hyperbole, stretch, strain, coloring, high coloring, caricature, caricatura, extravagance, Baron Munchausen, men in buckram, yarn, fringe, embroidery, traveler's tale, fish story, gooseberry, storm in a teacup, much ado about nothing, puff, puffery, rant, figure of speech, facon de parler, stretch of fancy, stretch of the imagination, flight of fancy, false coloring, aggravation, exaggerated, overwrought, bombastic, hyperbolical, on stilts, fabulous, extravagant, preposterous, egregious, outre, highflying, hyperbolically, excitabat enim fluctus in simpulo.