1840, Washington Irving, The Knight of Malta:I found that he had dipped a little in chimerical studies and had a hankering after astrology and alchymy.
1849, Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, ch. 1:Mike says he even likes to talk to him and run after him, but he has a hankering that Moore should be made an example of.
1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. 4:One may say that hankering after naughty things is the very essence of the evil into which we have been precipitated by Adam's fall.
1904, W. W. Jacobs, Dialstone Lane. ch. 2:"Some people are fond of a stay-at-home life, but I always had a hankering after adventures."
2010 Aug. 12, Michael D. Lemonick, "Study: Lucy's Relatives Used Tools to Butcher Meat," Time:In other words, some species of human ancestor . . . not only had a hankering for meat, which scientists had not expected, but used tools to get it.
