oscitate

PRONUNCIATION:
(OS-i-tayt)

MEANING:
verb intr.: To yawn or gape.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin oscitare (to yawn), from os (mouth) + citare (to move). Earliest documented use: 1623.

USAGE:
“Disappointed of their normal African harvest, the granaries of Rome oscitated half-empty and forlorn.”
Reginald Hargreaves; Enemy at the Gate; Macdonald & Co.; 1945.