Definition

to dote upon, i.e. intensely crave possession (lawfully or wrongfully)

Etymology

from G1909 (ἐπί) and potheo (to yearn);

Where the KJV renders it

• (earnestly) desire (greatly)
• (greatly) long (after)
• lust

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.