▪ I. longing, vbl. n.1
(ˈlɒŋɪŋ)
Also 3–6 north. langing.
[OE. langung, f. langian long v.]
1. The action of long v.1; yearning desire; an instance of this. Const. for, after, † to, † of; also with inf.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 131 Ne mæᵹ þæt na beon þæt þa bearn þe unbliþran ne syn, & langunga nabban æfter þæm freon⁓dum. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 27 Þe godfrihte..habbeð longinge to heuene. a 1225 Ancr. R. 190 Oðer one deies longunge, oðer a sicnesse of ane stunde. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 309 Youre oghne liege men..That live in longinge and desir Til ye be come ayein to Tyr. c 1400 Destr. Troy 9154 A fell arow..of loue..Made hym langwys in Loue & Longynges grete. c 1500 Melusine xxi. 119, I haue grete langyng to approche nygh the paynemys. 1598 Bacon Relig. Medit. Ess. (Arb.) 113 As if they were euer children and beginners, they are still in longing for things to come. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 284 Giue me my Robe, put on my Crowne, I haue Immortall longings in me. 1611 Bible Ps. cxix. 20 My soule breaketh for the longing: that it hath vnto thy iudgements at all times. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 511 Fierce desire,..Still unfulfill'd with pain of longing pines. 1713 Addison Cato v. i, Whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xiii. 378 Our native country, for which many of us by this time began to have great longings. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxii. 160 Sometimes..when a guide was in front of me, I have felt an extreme longing to have a second one behind me. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 22 The return was still looked for with longing. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 436 They will have a fierce secret longing after gold and silver. |
2. spec. in Path. The fanciful cravings incident to women during pregnancy. Chiefly pl.
| 1552 Elyot Dict., Citta, is also the affection of longing in women with childe. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 157 The longings and imaginations of women with childe. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 237, I haue a womans longing, An appetite that I am sicke withall. 1799 M. Underwood Dis. Children (ed. 4) II. 227 There is certainly nothing that we know of in a fright or longing that can produce such a change in organized matter. 1812 Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 7 He had..a pregnant wife, to satisfy whose longings, and to prevent any deformity of the child, he had ventured to trespass by shooting a hare. |
b. attrib.: longing mark, a birth-mark, nævus (popularly supposed to be the impressed image of some object ‘longed for’ by the mother).
| 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xxxviii. 335 The longing markes which are often times seene in children, and do remaine with them all their life. |
▪ II. † ˈlonging, vbl. n.2 Obs.
[f. long v.2 + -ing1.]
pl. Belongings; appurtenances.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. iii. 15 And so forth of manie purtenauncis and longingis to matrimonye. a 1470 Gregory in Hist. Collect. Lond. Cit. (Camden) 196 They dyspoylyd the placys and longgynges of many dyvers lordys. [But possibly this should read louggynges = lodgings.] |
▪ III. ˈlonging, ppl. a.1
[f. long v.1 + -ing2.]
That longs; characterized by yearning desire.
| 1509 Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess. Richmond Wks. (1876) 303 A grete comforte then it is vnto the soule that hath so longynge desyre vnto the body to here that the body shal ryse agayne. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 219 Gif..we..leif this art of langing lust. 1611 Bible Ps. cvii. 9. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 743 That Fruit, which with desire,..Sollicited her longing eye. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. (1721) 425 Of Love defrauded in their longing Hour. 1750 Gray Elegy 88 Nor cast one longing ling'ring Look behind! 1868 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 87 Wolsey had longing visions of the great work that might be effected if he could become pope. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 55 He felt a longing desire to see them. |
Hence ˈlongingness.
| 1651 Davenant Gondibert iii. vi. lxxi, And now his Eyes even ake with longingness. |
▪ IV. † ˈlonging, ppl. a.2 Obs.
[f. long v.2 + -ing2.]
Belonging.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 462 So is vcha krysten sawle, A longande lym to þe mayster of myste. |