Technicolor yawn is a mid-twentieth century idiom. We will examine the meaning of the common saying technicolor yawn, where it came from, and some examples of its idiomatic usage in sentences.
Technicolor yawn is an idiom that means the act of vomiting. Technicolor is a type of color processing used in the film business; there are various iterations of the process. The first technicolor processes were experimented with in the infancy of film, but the technicolor process that we know today really came into its prime in the 1930s, especially in cartoons, costume films, and musicals. The expression technicolor yawn originated in Australia. A comedian, Barry Humphries, is credited with originating the term, or at least, popularizing the term, from the 1960s. Note that many sources capitalize technicolor because it is a trademarked name; however, it is also a process and in this sense, does not require capitalization. The Oxford English Dictionary does not capitalize the idiom, technicolor yawn.
Examples
On the troop ship across the Pacific he won his division’s technicolor yawn contest and got the news the war was over. (Madison Newspapers)
A quick glance at the mirror reveals pale faces and thin lips—telltale precursors to the dreaded Technicolor yawn. (Road & Track Magazine)
The myth of the vomitorium has therefore been shaped by our fascination with the antics of dissolute emperors and elites who loved a Technicolor yawn between meals. (The Conversation)
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