All 12 Uses of

yearn
in
Babbitt

He could, on ten hours' notice, appear before the board of aldermen or the state legislature and prove, absolutely, with figures all in rows and with precedents from Poland and New Zealand, that the street-car company loved the Public and yearned over its employees; that all its stock was owned by Widows and Orphans; and that whatever it desired to do would benefit property-owners by increasing rental values, and help the poor by lowering rents.†
Chpt 3

yearned = strongly desired

At the Simplex Office Furniture Shop, the National Cash Register Agency, he yearned for a dictaphone, for a typewriter which would add and multiply, as a poet yearns for quartos or a physician for radium.†
Chpt 5

At the Simplex Office Furniture Shop, the National Cash Register Agency, he yearned for a dictaphone, for a typewriter which would add and multiply, as a poet yearns for quartos or a physician for radium.†
Chpt 5

yearns = strongly desires

Swanson begged, "Oh, say, lemme tell you the story—" But Frink went on resolutely, "You take and save the shells from peas, and pour six gallons of water on a bushel of shells and boil the mixture till—" Mrs. Babbitt turned toward them with yearning sweetness; Frink hastened to finish even his best beer-recipe; and she said gaily, "Dinner is served."†
Chpt 8

yearning = strongly desiring; or a strong desire

When he read it to his wife she yearned, "Why, dear, it's splendid; beautifully written, and so clear and interesting, and such splendid ideas!†
Chpt 13 *

yearned = strongly desired

As to music the Sunday School Times advertised that C. Harold Lowden, "known to thousands through his sacred compositions," had written a new masterpiece, "entitled 'Yearning for You.'†
Chpt 16

yearning = strongly desiring; or a strong desire

Babbitt sat for a long time, alternately raging, "I'll have him arrested," and yearning "I wonder—No, I've never done anything that wasn't necessary to keep the Wheels of Progress moving."†
Chpt 19

She caught the glance, snuggled her hands together with a kittenish curving of slim white fingers which delighted him, and yearned: "I do love to play—I mean—I like to drum on the piano, but I haven't had any real training.†
Chpt 24

yearned = strongly desired

Mrs. Mudge was introduced by the president of the League of the Higher Illumination, an oldish young woman with a yearning voice, white spats, and a mustache.†
Chpt 30

yearning = strongly desiring; or a strong desire

She was younger in years than himself, yet it was sickening to have her yearning up at him with rolling great eyes—as if, he shuddered, his own aunt were making love to him.†
Chpt 31

Definition:

have a strong desire -- often for something difficult or impossible to have