Crossword Dictionary
desire
desire, want - v
feel or have a desire for; want strongly; "I want to go home now"; "I want my own room"
synonyms
appetency, appetite, craving, drive, hankering, hunger, itch, jones [slang], letch, longing, lust, passion, pining, thirst, thirstiness, urge, yearning, yen
in a sentence
a desire for adventure and excitement prompted him to travel to Africa
ads for drugs that increase desire
at the delegate's desire, the voice vote on the controversial measure was followed by an actual roll call
he greatly desired a new mountain bike for his next birthday
etymology
c. 1300, "a craving or yearning; an emotion directed toward attainment or possession of an object; sensual appetite, physical desire, lust," from Old French desir, from desirer (see desire (v.)). Meaning "that which is longed for" is from mid-14c.
A Streetcar Named Desire (Play)
A Streetcar Named Desire, play in three acts by Tennessee Williams, first produced and published in 1947 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama for that year. One of the most admired plays of its time, it concerns the mental and moral disintegration and ultimate ruin of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle. Her neurotic, genteel pretensions are no match for the harsh realities symbolized by her brutish brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.
Plot
The story centers on Blanche DuBois who visits her younger sister Stella, a part played excellently by Kim Hunter, who is married to Stanley. Blanche arrives in the heart of the New Orleans red light district, the French Quarter, where the city’s orgiastic collective improv and Basin Street blues enhance the steamy ambience. To Blanche’s horror, this is her sister’s neighborhood and her lofty attitude is directed towards her sister and her acceptance of an uncouth, brutal, neanderthal for a husband. Meanwhile Stanley battles to expose Blanche as a fake, gradually uncovering why she has mysteriously lost the family plantation and the facts about her morally dubious past. It transpires that Stella is haunted by the guilt she feels for her part in the suicide of a teenage lover. With this she gradually loses her mind, passing into a world where fantasy has taken over reality.