longing

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English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈlɒŋɪŋ/
  • Rhymes: -ɒŋɪŋ
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈlɔːŋɪŋ/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English longynge, langynge, langand, from Old English langiende, from Proto-Germanic *langōndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long +‎ -ing (present participle ending).

Verb

longing

  1. present participle and gerund of long

Etymology 2

From Middle English longinge, langynge, from Old English longung, langung (“longing, desire”), from Proto-Germanic *langungō, gerund of Proto-Germanic *langōną (“to desire, long for”), equivalent to long +‎ -ing (gerund ending).

Noun

longing (plural longings)

  1. An earnest and deep, not greatly passionate, but rather melancholic desire.
    • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods‎, London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 2:
      For round the valley a great desert lies through which no common traveller may come, but those whom the gods have chosen feel suddenly a great longing at heart, and crossing the mountains that divide the desert from the world, set out across it driven by the gods, […]
  2. The buying of a financial instrument with the expectation that its value will rise
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