fiending

n. craving, desiring, wanting, obsessing (over or about). Subjects: English, United States, Hip-Hop

Editorial Note: This term originally referred to drug addicts but is now trivialized and generified. It acts primarily as a verbal noun. Feenin is a very common alternate spelling popularized by the song of the same name by the hip-hop artist Jodeci on the 1993 album Diary of a Mad Band.

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Citations: 1988 Don Terry New York Times (Sept. 4) “‘Everybody Is Crying and Sad’: Slain Ice Cream Vendor Is Mourned” p. 42: “Whoever did it,” the man said, “must have been fiending for drugs, that’s all they do around here. They tried to rob an ice cream truck. I mean how much money is on an ice cream truck. That’s stupid.” 1989 Paul Vitello Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.) (Jan. 22) “Day of Promise, Night of Waste” p. 6: He was afraid the crack house would sell out. This happens. Cops call it the “fiending” frenzy. 1990 James Kindall Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.) (Jan. 21) “On Streets To Nowhere” p. 10: Almost all can tell tales of confrontations with irate Johns or fellow street people who began “fiending” (striking out in a furious need for more drugs). 1992 [gvbattle@elgreco.Princeton.edu (Gregory V. Battle)] Usenet: alt.rodney-king (May 5) “Rhyme”: You’ve seen it, they mean it, now I’m fiending for a bum rush. 1994 Christopher J. Wang (CJW115@psuvm.psu.edu) Usenet: alt.rap (Apr. 1) “Re: What does Feenin’ mean???”: “Feenin’”=“fiending”. you know like wanting. a crack fiend, a microphone fiend. 1995 Jacinda Abcarian @ Berkeley, Calif. (NPR) (Dec. 27) “Youths Give Perspective on Tobacco Controversy Segment Number: 13 Show Number: 2074”: Throughout high school, I watched as many of my friends tried to balance going to class and fiending for the next hit. “Fiending” is just an expression my friends and I use to describe how crazed smokers get when they’re looking for a cigarette. 2000 [Sis (SisNoSpam@home.net)] Usenet: alt.consumers.free-stuff (Feb. 1) “Re: Sparks.com $10 off no min…free shipping”: Sheesh, me and my chocolate feenin!!! lmao! 2004 Gail Mitchell Billboard (U.S.) (Sept. 4) “LaBelle ringing” vol. 116, no. 36, p. 19: “People are fiending for real R&B again,” he says. “All the sampling has brought people’s minds and ears back to real music.” 2004 [Laurabee] Tell Laura I Lo-ve Her (Sept. 26): Feenin. Yeah. As in I was feenin for a night on the town with a side of partay. Feenin as in “he was feenin for her something bad.” Feenin as in “you got me feenin.”

Posted 28 Sep 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Looks like it’s a replacement for “jonesing,” eh?

by languagehat 28 Sep 04, 0854 GMT