noun
jones
johnz
noun
1
Slang for heroin.
"He was arrested with a small bag of jones on him."
2
An addiction or a strong, nagging craving for something.
"She had a real jones for chocolate every afternoon."
"His jones for cigarettes kicked in the moment he sat down."
verb
1
To crave something intensely.
"I was jonesing for a coffee by ten in the morning."
"He started jonesing for a cigarette the second he quit."
How to Use Jones
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA strong craving or addiction, or the act of craving something badly — used loosely today for anything from drugs to junk food.
When to use it
Informal American slang; rare outside casual speech.
Common pairings
jonesing for something
a bad jones
kick the jones
Word Forms
jonesed past tense, joneses plural, joneses singular
Study it as flashcards or scroll it in Flow — saved to your collection.
Test yourself on “jones”
A quick quiz — meaning, synonyms & usage
→
Fill the Gap
Can you complete this real example?
He was arrested with a small bag of _____ on him.
Etymology
American slang traced by some writers to heroin addicts who used to gather on Great Jones Alley in New York City; others think the addiction sense simply grew out of the surname Jones being used as a generic stand-in.