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WordWealth: yen
yen (1)
(yen),
n., pl. yen.
1. an aluminum
coin and monetary unit of Japan, equal to 100 sen or 1000 rin.
Symbol: ¥; Abbr.: Y; 2. a former silver coin of
Japan. [1870–75; < Japn (y)en <
Chin yuán YUAN]
yen (2)
(yen),
n., v., yenned, yen·ning.
Informal.
–n.
1. a desire or
craving: I had a yen for apple pie.
– v.i.
2. to have a
craving; yearn.
[1905–10, Amer.;
prob. < dial. Chin (OAGuangdong) yáhn, akin to Chin yGn
craving, addiction]
—Syn.1. longing,
hankering, hunger, appetite.
(Random
House Webster's, Unabridged).
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Turque's reporting on this issue suggests that Gore behaved in
pretty much the most honorable way possible, that, in fact, Gore's
tour of duty in Vietnam was five months rather than the standard year
not because he got it shortened but because the Nixon White House,
backing Gore Sr.'s Republican opponent, delayed Gore Jr.'s ship-over
date until after November so that Sr. couldn't use his son's military
service as a campaign crutch. (Gore Sr. lost, and both father and son
were bitter about it for years.)--But all that duty must have
incubated a yen for rebellion, because the young Al Gore showed
an imperturbable determination to make his own way in the world.
——
Michael Tomasky in
'The
Candidate';
the New York Times; March 26, 2000,
Sunday
Mojo, a fellow who's started a successful ice-cream business, likes
to think of himself as "a post-Marxist with a yen for
a Porsche." ——
Michiko Kakutani, 'Alienated Young and Their Solipsistic
Pleasures,'
New York
Times, May 7, 1988
We come into the world with a yen for sweets
(newborns can even distinguish among glucose, fructose, lactose, and
sucrose) and a weak aversion to bitterness, and after four months
develop a fondness for salt. ——
Jeffrey Steingarten, 'The
Man Who Ate Everything'
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