hankering
noun1
Often, Followed by for or after A strong, restless desire, longing, or mental inclination.
- I found that he had dipped a little in chimerical studies and had a hankering after astrology and alchymy.1840, Washington Irving, The Knight of Malta:
- Mr. Hall thinks he has no personal hatred of Moore; he says he even likes to talk to him, and run after him, but he has a hankering that he should be made an example of.1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Levitical”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 17:
4 more examples
- But there was one yet - the biggest, the most blank, so to speak - that I had a hankering after.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 197:
- "Some people are fond of a stay-at-home life, but I always had a hankering after adventures."1904, W. W. Jacobs, chapter 2, in Dialstone Lane:
- “It looks wrong to me. But I have a hankering to work the thing out on my own. […]”1919, Christopher Morley, “Aubrey Takes Lodgings”, in The Haunted Bookshop, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 138:
- In other words, some species of human ancestor […] not only had a hankering for meat, which scientists had not expected, but used tools to get it.2010 August 12, Michael D. Lemonick, “Study: Lucy's Relatives Used Tools to Butcher Meat”, in Time, archived from the original on 13 Sep 2012: