envy

Etymology

From Middle English envie, from Old French envie, from Latin invidia (“envy”), from invidere (“to look at with malice”), from in- (“on, upon”) + videre (“to look, see”). Displaced native Old English æfest.

noun

1. Resentful desire of something possessed by another or others (but not limited to material possessions).
   Envy, to which the ignoble mind's a slave, Is emulation in the learned or brave. 1804, Alexander Pope, The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, page 71
   distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour. 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, page 9
   Theodorus assures Socrates that no envy will prevent the Stranger from responding 1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato's Sophist: The Drama of Original and Image, page 66
2. An object of envious notice or feeling.
   This constitution in former days used to be the envy of the world[.] 1843, Thomas Macaulay, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, Carey & Hart, page 277
   Blacke Foryst of Despayr, taking photos of the band Put 'em up on Myspace you're the envy of the land 2008, Lich King (band), “Black Metal Sucks”, in Toxic Zombie Onslaught
3. (obsolete) Hatred, enmity, ill-feeling.
4. 1598, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1:
5. (obsolete) Emulation; rivalry.
   c. 1631-1636, John Ford, The Fancies Chaste and Noble Such as cleanliness and decency Prompt to a virtuous envy.
6. (obsolete) Public odium; ill repute.
7. A red-skinned variety of eating apple.

verb

1. (transitive) To feel displeasure or hatred towards (someone) for their good fortune or possessions.
   Moon and Kim took a cable car together to Heaven Lake, a caldera at the top of the mountain, and walked around the area with their wives and officials from both sides. Pictures showed Moon and Kim smiling and posing with their wives, and Moon filling a bottle with water from the lake. “The Chinese envy us because they can’t go down to the lake from their side but we can,” Kim said. “We should write another chapter of history between the North and the South by reflecting our new history on this Heaven Lake.” September 20, 2018, Hyonhee Shin, Joyce Lee, Soyoung Kim, Haejin Choi, Pyongyang Press Corps., “Fulfilling a dream, South Korea's Moon visits sacred North Korean mountain with Kim”, in Lincoln Feast, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 2018-11-13, World News
2. (transitive) To resentfully or discontentedly desire (something someone else has that one lacks).
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To have envious feelings (at).
4. (obsolete, transitive) To give (something) to (someone) grudgingly or reluctantly; to begrudge.
5. (obsolete) To show malice or ill will; to rail.
6. (obsolete) To do harm to; to injure; to disparage.
7. (obsolete) To hate.
8. (obsolete) To emulate.