Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An uneasy craving or longing to possess or enjoy something.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of hanker.
  • noun A strong, restless desire, longing, or mental inclination.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a yearning for something or to do something

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hankering.

Examples

  • Anyhow, since I am otherwise entirely urban, it seems unlikely that this particular hankering is going to be satisfied in the near future.

    Goatscape Lindy 2006

  • Anyhow, since I am otherwise entirely urban, it seems unlikely that this particular hankering is going to be satisfied in the near future.

    Toast: Lindy 2006

  • His principal points were that the article did not mean what it appeared to say; that if it did it was not so much an expression of policy as of a "hankering" -- ( "HANKERING.

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, August 11, 1920 Various 1898

  • Personally, I think it is very fortuitous that this kind of hankering back and forth and subtle "adjustments" of positions this earrly is good for th candidates.

    McCain And Obama Battle It Out Over Supreme Court Handgun Decision 2009

  • Personally, I think it is very fortuitous that this kind of hankering back and forth and subtle "adjustments" of positions this earrly is good for th candidates.

    McCain And Obama Battle It Out Over Supreme Court Handgun Decision 2009

  • English blood, had a kind of hankering after it, and would almost rather have such at his board than even a true-born American; and infinitely more welcome were they than Frenchman, Spaniard, or

    Erema Richard Doddridge 2004

  • Conservatives, "hankering" after the offices, accepted unconditionally the annexation of Texas, they were called Hunkers.

    A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 DeAlva Stanwood Alexander

  • They're kind of hankering, pard, and, mum, if you are willin ', and ain't' fraid to trust her with us, why, we'd be mighty glad to tote her -- just for a few minutes -- over to camp.

    Good Cheer Stories Every Child Should Know Asa Don Dickinson 1918

  • Just as we crossed a little opening, Johnnie fired, the ball cutting Bear's jugular vein and also his windpipe, but the bear still seemed to have a "hankering" after me and kept coming for several yards.

    Thirty-One Years on the Plains and In the Mountains Drannan, William F 1899

  • Poor stiff-necked, lonely, "hankering" Sam! to be so harshly reproved for his harmlessly sociable intents.

    Sabbath in Puritan New England Alice Morse Earle 1881

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • honk if you love hankies

    April 13, 2009