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3. aching

aching

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ache for

1. To feel a strong desire for someone or something. She ached for the companionship of her husband when he was deployed overseas.

2. To feel sadness and/or empathy for someone. I ache for those little children who just lost their parents in a car accident.

aching heart

A feeling of pain or despair in the absence of someone one loves. I had such an aching heart during the holidays this year, the first ones without my mother.

See also: aching, heart

ache for someone or something

 and hurt for someone or something

Fig. to desire someone or something very much. (So much that it "hurts.") Jim ached for the sight of Mary, whom he loved deeply.

aching heart

Fig. the feeling of pain because of love that is lost or has faded away. (Described as being in the heart, where love is said to reside.) I try to tell my aching heart that I don't love him.

See also: aching, heart

ache for somebody/something

to feel desire or regret about someone or something I ache for home, the smell of bread baking, rain hitting the porch roof - even the smell of the hen house. We ache for the victims of war who have lost family, friends, and their homes.