wanderlust
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɒndəlʌst/
ipa: /ˈwɑndɚˌlʌst/
Forms: form: wanderlusts
form: Wanderlust
Etymology: Borrowed from German Wanderlust (“urge to travel; love of the ‘great outdoors’”), from wandern (“to wander; to hike”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn; to wind”)) + Lust (“desire, wish to do or have something; fun, pleasure”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewH- (“to separate; to set free; to untie”)); analysable as wander + lust.
Senses: examples: text: Very often we made detours from the main caravan, rejoining it at a given spot, and this spirit of "wanderlust" brought us into a nice quandary one fine day.
ref: 1908, Agnes Herbert, “Death of ‘The Baron’”, in Two Dianas in Somaliland: The Record of a Shooting Trip, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, →OCLC, page 119:
text: For the long trail stretched before us, for we heard the call, / Left the hearthstone and the homeland, felt the rover's thrall; / Wandered to the far horizon, sought the joy of life— / Now the wanderlust is waning, heimweh now is rife.
ref: 1908 December 12, Harry Davids, Tom Springer, “Christmas Sorrows”, in Alfred Holman, editor, The Argonaut, volume LXIII, number 1655, San Francisco, Calif.: Argonaut Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 397, column 1:
text: The Wanderlust has lured me to the seven lonely seas, / Has dumped me on the tailing-piles of dearth; / The Wanderlust has haled me from the morris chairs of ease, / Has hurled me to the ends of all the earth.
ref: 1912, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Wanderlust”, in Rhymes of a Rolling Stone, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 123:
text: They were deliriously happy for a few years, but always her soul felt the call of wanderlust.
ref: 1933, “Germany [Paula Becker Modersohn (1876–1907)]”, in Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, compiler, 400 Outstanding Women of the World and Costumology of Their Time, Chicago, Ill.: Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, →OCLC, page 207:
text: Apart from a visit to Paris in 1825 he [Adelbert von Chamisso] enjoyed the peace of his home and of his study at Berlin until the hour of his death without any further visitations of Wanderlust.
ref: 1932, August C[arl] Mahr, “Introduction”, in The Visit of the “Rurik” to San Francisco in 1816 (Stanford University Publications, University Series ; History, Economics, and Political Science; volume II, number 2), Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, →OCLC, pages 17–18:
text: If you find yourself suffering from an attack of Wanderlust, this is the book for you!
ref: 1937 April, “New Publications in the Leisure Time Field”, in Recreation, volume XXXI, number 1, New York, N.Y.: National Recreation Association, →OCLC, page 55, column 1:
text: [Edward Verrall] Lucas is no less interested in places, imbued as he has always been with wanderlust.
ref: 1972 April–June, Visvanath Chatterjee, “E. V. Lucas: Prince of Essayists”, in The Calcutta Review, volume III, number 4 (New Series), Calcutta, West Bengal: University of Calcutta, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 317:
text: The shallow waters immediately adjacent to California's 1200 miles of coastline offer a wide variety of habitats where at least 250 kinds of fishes live out all or some of their lives. [...] The eggs and larvae of some may drift seaward and lead a pelagic existence, but once their wanderlust is satisfied, the juveniles return to nearshore areas where they take up life as their parents did before them.
ref: 1975, John E. Fitch, Robert J. Lavenberg, “Introduction”, in Arthur C. Smith, editor, Tidepool and Nearshore Fishes of California (California Natural History Guides; 38), Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.; London: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 1:
text: His death brings to light the thwarted ambitions, bridled emotions, unfulfilled loves, or unsatisfied wanderlusts of his surviving friends.
ref: 1987, John Wilson Foster, “Betraying Presences: Fictional Tidings from Cork, Galway, and the Midlands—Daniel Corkery, Brinsley MacNamara, Edward E. Lysaght”, in Fictions of the Irish Literary Revival: A Changeling Art (Irish Studies), Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, published 1993, →ISBN, part III (The Infinite Pain of Self-realization: The Realist Reply), page 183:
text: Or perhaps walking should be called movement, not travel, for one can walk in circles or travel around the world immobilized in a seat, and a certain kind of wanderlust can only be assuaged by the acts of the body itself in motion, not the motion of the car, boat, or plane.
ref: 2000, Rebecca Solnit, “Tracing a Headland: An Introduction”, in Wanderlust: A History of Walking, New York, N.Y.; London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, part I (The Pace of Thoughts), page 6:
text: What is it, about this wanderlust? The compulsive desire to travel, surely; to reach out for spaces where the serendipity of experience can unfold of itself into a life journey?
ref: 2010, Megan Speers, “Foreword”, in Wanderlust: A Story Told in 50 Wood Engravings (Graphic Novels; 3), Erin, Ont.: The Porcupine’s Quill, →ISBN, page 7:
text: I saw the wind brush a swirl of dust / from the surface of a sleeping form, / Awakening a hidden thrush / of wanderlusts it had ignored, [...]
ref: 2020, Jeffery William Childers Jr., “The Troubadours”, in Orphan Mysticism: Gnostic Empathy, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 64:
synonyms: word: farsickness
word: itchy feet
word: travel bug
antonyms: word: Heimweh
word: homesickness
glosses: A strong impulse or longing to travel.
examples: text: Males like lots of rapid anonymous sex. It's a biological drive. When you get a male-female couple together the male often gives up his wanderlust in exchange for the security of having a home.
ref: 1994 January 24, David A. Kaye, “Glory Holes”, in soc.motss (Usenet):
text: I was the slapper ... was in a short piece where I was a jealous girlfriend who slapped my date for his wanderlust.
ref: 1998 June 2, DoveCrye, “Face Slapping - Real or Faked?”, in alt.acting (Usenet):
text: Donna was a model of TRUE "Family Values"! She tried to keep Ghoulie as her busband, but his wanderlust could not be controlled.
ref: 2001 July 5, nyc, “POOR, poor Rudey!”, in alt.government.abuse (Usenet):
glosses: An impulse to cheat or seek out other romantic or sexual partners; a straying heart.
Derived terms: squanderlust
wanderluster
wanderlustful
wanderlusty