To be lovesick with no sweetheart is a long drawn-out story (4)

I believe the answer is:

yarn

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'story' is the definition.
('yarn' can be a synonym of 'story')

I don't understand the rest of the clue.

(Other definitions for yarn that I've seen before include "Long involved story" , "Sham" , "Spun thread; long story" , "Spun fibre" , "which could unravel?" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times.

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