Jones

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /d͡ʒoʊnz/

Definitions

1. One who has a strong interest or obsession with something, particularly in contexts related to drugs or lifestyle choices
2. A person whose name is often used as a generic placeholder for an individual
3. Referring to the phenomenon of having a yearning or desire for a particular thing or experience

Etymology: In the sense of craving a drug, the word is generally credited to heroin addicts in New York City. Writing in The New York Times in March 2002, Ed Boland traced it to users who frequented Great Jones Alley, a lane off Great Jones Street between Broadway and Lafayette Street in Manhattan. To "have a jones" was to be in the grip of a craving for the drug, and "to jones" meant to be going through that craving. Dan Waldorf also states that the addiction sense originated among heroin addicts. The slang was clearly in use well before Boland's article, so the alley story explains a likely origin for the term rather than a firmly dated first use.

Synonyms: desire, crave

Antonyms: dislike, reject