yen

get a yen for (something)

To get a craving or desire for something. Though I quit smoking years ago, I still get a yen for a cigarette from time to time. I'm getting a yen for something sweet—let's go out for ice cream!
See also: get, yen

have a yen for (something)

To have a very strong and persistent desire or craving for something. I've had a yen for sushi ever since I came back from Tokyo last month.
See also: have, yen

yen

A desire. Often used in the phrase "have a yen for (someone/something)." Meredith has a real yen to be a surgeon, which, combined with her work ethic, should bring her much success.

yen for (someone or something)

1. noun An intense desire or longing for someone or something. Though I quit smoking years ago, I still get a yen for a cigarette from time to time. She's always had a yen for adventure since she was a young girl.
2. verb To have an intense desire or longing for someone or something. He yenned for freedom from his overprotective parents. I still yen for Sarah, even though our relationship ended two years ago.
See also: yen
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

yen for someone or something

to long for someone or something. I yen for a great big bowl of highly fattening ice cream. Frank yenned for Sally.
See also: yen
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

have a yen for

Crave or desire, as in I have a yen for a thick juicy steak. The yen in this expression comes from the Chinese yan, meaning "a craving" (probably for opium). The term was first recorded in English in 1906.
See also: have, yen
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • (it's) (a)bout time
  • about time
  • any time means no time
  • any time
  • anytime
  • about time too
  • at all hours
  • at all hours (of the day and night)
  • any old time
  • ahead of (someone's or something's) time
References in periodicals archive
Japan's export dependency has increased due to the weakening yen. Exports' share of GDP increased from 8.8 percent in the second quarter of 1995 to 16.5 percent in the third quarter of 2006.
Weak yen conundrum: why Japanese households love foreign financial assets
In the year through last March, Alps Electric paid a total of 12 yen in per-share dividends, including a year-end dividend of 6 yen.
Alps Electric revises upward earnings projection
Nippon Conlux, a developer of coin mechanisms for vending machines, fell 21 yen to 685 yen.
Tokyo stocks up, Nikkei closes above 18,000
The yen's depreciation accelerated after early June.
Treasury and Federal Reserve foreign exchange operations
The current forward rate is 102.17, the current spot is 105.50 and the option is the right to buy yen at 106.
Share and share alike
What are the alternatives to "talking up the yen" as a way to secure a reduction in the Japanese trade surplus?
Implications of the rising yen
In fiscal 2007, it posted a group net profit of 244.42 billion yen and a pretax profit of 368.31 billion yen on sales of 4.03 trillion yen.
Denso to fall into red in FY 2008 on parent-only basis
The special account's paper losses will be realized once the ministry begins to unwind its huge holdings by selling dollars at these lower levels in exchange for yen. However, currency analysts we contacted suggested that the outlook for the dollar/yen exchange rate looks set to favor a continued slide in the greenback.
Intervention junkies--addiction without end?
The dispersion of the probability distribution of the future dollar-mark exchange rate one-month hence implied by currency options prices was little changed over the quarter but became skewed toward a weaker dollar against the yen, reflecting a higher cost of protection against a sharp downward move in the dollar-yen exchange rate.
Treasury and Federal Reserve foreign exchange operations
For instance, if you hedge your yen receivable at 100 yen per dollar with a forward contract, you'll get $1 for every 100 yen you deliver to the bank in, say, six months.
The reins on risk
The 273-page report is available in Japanese for 105,000 yen ($890) and 115,500 yen ($978) with a supplemental CD-ROM.
Fuji Keizai Releases Report on Biologic Component and Material Market in Japan
Japan's intervention to support the dollar has been increasingly ineffective since the dollar tumbled below [yen]115 last September--the result of implications that the yen might ease after a Group of Seven meeting that called for flexible exchange rates.
The stock market reads through strong-yen worries: Japan is better prepared for the ramifications of the weak dollar
Japan will emerge from its deflationary slump only when the yen is allowed to weaken.
The yen solution: why dramatic currency depreciation and the resulting market resurgence are Tokyo's only way out
Japan's 10 electric power companies and four major gas suppliers will raise their charges, effective in October, due to the yen's depreciation and higher crude oil prices, officials said Thursday.
Electricity, gas charges to rise on weak yen
During the second quarter of 1996, the dollar traded in a relatively narrow range against the Japanese yen, fluctuating between 104 [yen] and 110 [yen].
Treasury and Federal Reserve foreign exchange operations