Home US English jones

Definition of jones in English:

jones

Pronunciation /jōnz/ /dʒoʊnz/

noun

informal US

  • A fixation on or compulsive desire for someone or something, typically a drug; an addiction.

    • ‘a two-year amphetamine jones’
    • ‘So if you have a jones to live like a virtual Skywalker, and can get over the steep learning curve the game presents, and resign yourself to a fairly equal ratio of adventuring to downtime, Star Wars Galaxies can be great.’
    • ‘The jones, the real smack was not the chemicals themselves, but the euphoria of the endless possibilities set off by the acquisition of the substance.’
    • ‘Seriously, this site has provoked my writerly instincts and definitely fed my Cyke jones.’
    • ‘Satisfying your superhero jones can be tough when you're a comix snob like me.’
    • ‘That must have been some oxycontin jones he had.’
    • ‘My four-year-old son has developed a healthy gaming jones.’
    • ‘When combined with protein powder and berries, this combo can eliminate your daffy java jones.’
    • ‘If you have a jones to get your kid into a dog named after a dog that you used to like 100 years ago, then this is the film for you.’
    • ‘I surf reasonably well, and a big day here in Southern Cal is enough to typically satisfy any jones I might have for a long drop-in.’
    • ‘Of course, like any good addiction, my jones for television came back.’
    dependency, dependence, craving, habit, weakness, compulsion, fixation, enslavement

intransitive verb

[no object]informal US jones on/for

  • Have a fixation on; be addicted to.

    • ‘Palmer was jonesing for some coke again’
    • ‘At any given time of day, junkies line up inside, jonesing for their over-the-counter drugs.’
    • ‘If all the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter hype has you jonesing for some sci-fi or fantasy with a gay flavor, the Web can help you find it.’
    • ‘Be honest, you've known for a while that Foster's been jonesing on you.’
    • ‘Just because there is a lot of ignorant, uneducated, unmotivated Bahamians jonesing on the streets of New Providence, doesn't mean that it has to be that way.’
    • ‘So you have this Steven Spielberg movie that opened last Friday: The Terminal, about an Eastern European immigrant who winds up stateless and homeless, living in an airport and jonesing for the incomparable Catherine Zeta-Jones.’
    • ‘Although an hour in the dentist office whitening chair isn't much to spare, the thought of dealing with the 24-hour kibosh on caffeine and other stain producing substances keeps us jonesing for an iced trippio, presto.’
    • ‘And as for the sweets thing, he must be jonesing for a candy bar big time, by now.’
    • ‘When the weather starts to cool here and I'm jonesing for Manhattan Beach, I'll be visiting her palmtree-lined, azure-tinted Pacific Ocean musings even more.’
    • ‘Of course, one of the cool rules Jefferson was jonesing for was freedom of speech, a right that, evidently, Mr. Penn believes should apply to only individuals of the same philosophical bent as himself.’
    • ‘But more than that, free agents jonesing for some camaraderie get all the fun of a workplace that is free of office politics, brownnosing, and, of course, the dreaded boss.’
    • ‘But I'm jonesing for New York's energy and all that.’
    • ‘If the process is so… well… kind of gross… why, then, have people been jonesing for honey for tens of thousands of years?’
    • ‘We had been jonesing for some authentic southern fried chicken, so Semper Fi went with Chris ‘Nitro’ McNerney to Dodge's.’
    • ‘Since generations of juniors will be jonesing for this film, there is really nothing negative this critic can say to dissuade you from potential ownership.’
    • ‘You'll be hearing plenty on the subject from me in the next few days, but in case you're left jonesing for more, check out our Social Security Archive.’
    • ‘If you think that all of the other neo-realist European art films about forgiveness and parental grief weren't enough, and you were jonesing for one more, this is the movie for you.’
    • ‘I was jonesing for it as much as they wanted it for me.’
    • ‘Aside from constantly bagging out Cameron Diaz and publicly jonesing for a Spears wedding, she was involved with this gem.’
    • ‘Well, I'm jonesing for NOLA so bad right now, I just had lunch at Copeland's.’

Origin

1960s said to come from Jones Alley, in Manhattan, associated with drug addicts.

Pronunciation

jones

/jōnz/ /dʒoʊnz/