What does jonesing on someone mean

If they are to be believed, it is not surprising that a slang term such as jones might begin by referring to one of the two and later be applied to the other as Lighter seems to imply. Alternatively, as Green suggests, the two terms may have evolved independently of one another. I am not persuaded by the claim evidently proposed by the Online Rap Dictionary some 37 years after the earliest instance of jones that Lighter cites that jones originally alluded to Jones Alley in Manhattan.

It's a simple, convenient explanation, but as far as I know it has no paper trail to back it up. Here is the complete entry for jones in the Online Rap Dictionary :. Jones noun A craving for something. It is said to come from Jones Alley in Manhattan where junkies used to live. Blige You're all I need []. That's not much of a factual basis to hang a dictionary etymology on.

I might be more inclined to take the claimed source seriously if Claude Brown, whose semi-autobiographical novel Manchild in the Promised Land is set in Harlem above th Street in Manhattan and refers to "a jones"—in the drug sense—at least four times, had mentioned Jones Alley or Great Jones Street which are located in NoHo, the area just north of Houston Street, between Greenwich Village and the East Village even once; but he doesn't.

Great Jones Street is relevant because a competing folk etymology noted on WordWizard cites that Manhattan street as the origin of jones in the sense of addiction.

Specifically, a person named Shelley, posting on March 23, , offers this squib:. The feature features a timeline of the development, deterioration and renaissance of the street, and includes the following:. The term 'Jonesing' enters the language as junkies and dealers come and go from the alley next door. Indeed, the timeline item rather cleverly avoids claiming any explicit cause-and-effect relation between the events "Mingus moves to Great Jone Street" and "People start using the term 'jonesing' for addiction"; instead, it merely reports the two events in proximity to each other and leaves it to readers like Shelley to make the connection themselves.

You'll find jones and jonesing in literature pertaining to prohibition times. Also relating to the followers of Rev Jones mass suicide. So the meanings are multi-inspired and confused - as a lot of language is. It is the expression of that desire. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Where did "I'm Jonesing" get its meaning from?

Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 7 months ago. Active 1 year, 8 months ago. Viewed k times. Howard Mumford — American educator and critic. Jones biographical name 3. Definition of Jones Entry 5 of 7. Jones biographical name 4. Definition of Jones Entry 6 of 7. Jones biographical name 5.

Definition of Jones Entry 7 of 7. Synonyms for jones Synonyms: Verb ache for , covet , crave , desiderate , desire , die for , hanker for or after , hunger for , itch for , long for , lust for or after , pant after , pine for , repine for , salivate for , sigh for , thirst for , want , wish for , yearn for , yen for Synonyms: Noun addiction , dependence also dependance , habit , monkey Visit the Thesaurus for More.

Examples of jones in a Sentence Noun that dude had a jones for heroin like you wouldn't believe I have a real jones for a milk shake. Recent Examples on the Web: Verb But who among us is not jonesing to skip town and ride the rails, hoping the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train? Hawkins, The Verge , 6 Nov. First Known Use of jones Verb , in the meaning defined above Noun circa , in the meaning defined at sense 2.

History and Etymology for jones Noun origin unknown. Learn More About jones. Time Traveler for jones The first known use of jones was circa See more words from the same year. Phrases Related to jones keep up with the Joneses. Statistics for jones Look-up Popularity. One popular, but unsubstantiated, story has it that Jones Alley in Manhattan used to serve as a hub for heroin addicts. A person could be jonesing for a lover or a hamburger—anything they feel have done without for too long and feel a jittery anticipation of or longing for.

Contemporary use of jonesing is mainly as a metaphorical extension of its original drug slang, sometimes paired with other drug slang like fix e. Thanks to its widespread extended use in colloquial speech, writing, and social media, jonesing has lost its immediate associations with hard drugs and the drug underworld, now often carrying a positive or humorous connotation.

The most frequent form of jonesing is in the progressive tense as a verb phrase, to be jonesing for. However, the term still sees occasional use as a noun experiencing a taco jones or as simple verb He jonesed for the woman.

This is not meant to be a formal definition of jonesing like most terms we define on Dictionary. Feedback We've Added New Words! Word of the Day.