burning desire

burning desire

An ardent wish; excited passion. This figurative use of burning dates back at least to 1700. Sir Richard Steele wrote in The Tatler (1709) of “a burning Desire to join that glorious Company.”
See also: burning, desire
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • pocket
  • someone's ears are burning
  • (one's) ears are burning
  • ears are burning, one's
  • his, her, etc. ears are burning
  • burning
  • have money burning a hole in (one's) pocket
  • burn for
  • burn for (someone or something)
  • get in harm's way
References in classic literature
The resentment of Mr Allworthy, and the injury he must do to his quiet, argued strongly against this latter; and lastly, the apparent impossibility of his success, even if he would sacrifice all these considerations to it, came to his assistance; and thus honour at last backed with despair, with gratitude to his benefactor, and with real love to his mistress, got the better of burning desire, and he resolved rather to quit Sophia, than pursue her to her ruin.
Owen Ford didn't rush from the Pacific to the Atlantic from a burning desire to see ME.
As for me, I was consumed by a secret and burning desire to ask the Story Girl if I might see HER home; but I could not screw my courage to the sticking point.
While she felt the most eager and burning desire to penetrate the mystery in which Oliver's history was enveloped, she could not but hold sacred the confidence which the miserable woman with whom she had just conversed, had reposed in her, as a young and guileless girl.
They both then disappeared behind the drapery, and many moments of suspense succeeded, during which the old man, secretly urged by a burning desire to know the meaning of so much mystery, insensibly drew nigh to the place, until he stood within a few yards of the proscribed spot.
Her father gives her such a portentously hard-headed reputation, that I have a burning desire to know.
The little table with the green baize cover was wheeled out; the first instalment of punch was brought in, in a white jug; and the succeeding three hours were devoted to VINGT-ET-UN at sixpence a dozen, which was only once interrupted by a slight dispute between the scorbutic youth and the gentleman with the pink anchors; in the course of which, the scorbutic youth intimated a burning desire to pull the nose of the gentleman with the emblems of hope; in reply to which, that individual expressed his decided unwillingness to accept of any 'sauce' on gratuitous terms, either from the irascible young gentleman with the scorbutic countenance, or any other person who was ornamented with a head.
I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips.
"I have arranged to preach, and I shall not be there--by reason of my burning desire to see a woman whom I once despised!--No, by my word and truth, I never despised you; if I had I should not love you now!
Heyward felt a burning desire to rush forward to meet them, so intense was the delirious anxiety of the moment; but he was restrained by the deliberate examples of the scout and Uncas.
I want to know, moreover, what business you had there when I had a burning desire to fling you down-stairs.
Reza Baqar on Monday rejected the impression about International Monetary Fund (IMF) role in his appointment on this post and that it was his burning desire to serve the motherland, Pakistan, after getting rich experience with the IMF in managing the economic affairs at macro level.
(https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.insurancefraud.org%2FThu-Hong-Nguyen.htm&esheet=51911119&newsitemid=20181207005456&lan=en-US&anchor=Burning+desire&index=9&md5=8881b8dc7f808398414cbb2778b741e1) Burning desire. Two firefighters died when a brick wall fell on them as they fought an arson fire.
Burning desire Get smouldering late-summer borders with heleniums.
In this love story between a man and a city translated from the Spanish, Eduardo Lalo draws on his own time as a student in Paris to create a novel filled with the quiet, burning desire to belong.