yearn

yearn for (someone or something)

To have an intense, deep-seated longing or desire for someone or something, especially in a slightly melancholy capacity. I grew up in a tiny town in Kansas, yearning for the day I'd get a chance to move somewhere exciting like New York or L.A. All the girls in my class yearned for him, thinking he was this mysterious, brooding hunk, but he was actually kind of an awkward dork when you got to know him.
See also: yearn

yearn over (someone or something)

To have a strong, tender, deep-seated sympathy for someone or something. I don't know why you insist on going to the animal shelters to yearn over the stray dogs and cats when you know we're not going to take one home with us. The whole world yearned over the country following the horrible attacks.
See also: over, yearn
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

yearn for someone or something

to long for someone or something; to desire someone or something strongly. Sam sat alone in his room, yearning for Mary. Mary yearned for a big bowl of high-butterfat ice cream.
See also: yearn
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

yearn for

v.
To have a strong, often melancholy desire for someone or something: The sailors out at sea yearned for their families.
See also: yearn

yearn over

v.
To feel deep pity, sympathy, or tenderness for someone or something: The entire nation yearned over the lives lost in the accident.
See also: over, yearn
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • yearn for
  • yearn for (someone or something)
  • yearning
  • pine away
  • yearn over
  • yearn over (someone or something)
  • sworn enemy
  • yearning desire
  • drive (one) back to (someone)
  • drive back to
References in periodicals archive
I also yearn for the Sophia Gardens Pavilion, the venue for dancing, boxing, wrestling and many other kinds of entertainment.
The day the Flying Fourteens were left a bit green-gilled! Cardiff Remembered
Yearn Hong Choi tells us about himself in dealing with the vagaries of life, and his poems illuminate human experiences by their connectedness to those questions: who we are, where we are, and where we should be.
Yearn Hong Choi. Moon of New York
Across the globe, people living under the iron heel of government-imposed religion yearn for a separation of church and state.
Separation of church and state!: Say it loud, say it proud
He and his best mate Charley yearned for the open road, the loneliness of long-distance biking and took off around the world.
CARMEN REID: Get away from it all
Hone means "to sharpen on a hone" and in the South "to yearn."
Commonly confused words. (Editing)
"If you yearn to simplify your life without compromising your career, Dot Calm offers practical solutions," write Debra Dinnocenzo and Richard B.
Do you ...?
If you yearn to race in London, Honolulu, Alaska, or Australia but can't afford the travel, Runner's Circle can help you cut costs and put you in touch with other runners from around the world.
Runner's Circle
WHEN motoring enthusiasts shake their heads at the sorry state of affairs with Rover cars and yearn for the good old days, they are actually yearning for the Rover P-5.
Motoring: Golden days of best of British; Classic Car
By 1996, most of us will yearn for the 'good old days' of 1992!" But underlying it all is uncertainty: "We are in a psychological depression!
If you were president, what would you do about the economy?
Yet, as citizens, as people, we yearn for and strive for freedom, an enhanced quality of life, and a sense of meaning, purpose and importance in the essence as well as the existence of our lives.
Empowerment: a rejoinder to Vash's and Hahn's reactions
WORKING women no longer want the nine to five strife and yearn for the days when they stayed at home, cooking, cleaning and waiting in a fresh pinny for hubby to come home, according to research from Yorkshire Bank.
Working mothers don't want it all they want balance
"Sometimes I yearn so strongly for God that it is painful.
Elder wisdom
They came together because they yearn for more faith-freedom in academia.
Faith, freedom and the academy
The "new painting" often has little to do with painting itself, of course, except perhaps in terms of scale; indeed, the ubiquity of the photograph almost makes one yearn for fleshy oils on canvas.
Edward Burtynsky: Charles Cowles Gallery. (New York)
All the while, Pickover considers why it is that humans yearn to know the future.
Dreaming the Future: the Fantastic Story of Prediction