envie

present singular third person envies · participle present envying · participle past envied · past envied

1. obsoleteTo vie; to emulate; to strive.

   In which all pleasures plenteously abownd, And none does others happinesse envye

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

plural envies

1. LouisianaUSA strong desire or craving, especially for (a particular kind of) food.

   2018, Mark Vaughan, The Beacon 2: Battle of Nuclear Creek, self-published, unnumbered page, "I had an envie for something sweet so picked up King cakes for dessert. Bit of a lagniappe too, she gave us a dozen not ten."

   2 more examples

   "Oooo, yum." Linda licked her lips. "I had an envie for that." An envie is an urge. She walked to the oven, opened it, and looked in.

   2009, Shane Hebert, The Ballad of Corey Robichaux, self-published, page 27

   "Sorry about that," he said to the man. "I'm by myself here these days. I had an envie for some Popeye's fried chicken, and dammit if you can't get that kinda thing off your mind until you just get up and go get it."

   2020, Morris Ardoin, Stone Motel: Memoirs of a Cajun Boy, University Press of Mississippi, unnumbered page