'Envious of'

I've always used it both ways and heard it both ways. But I guess I should look it up.

I know we can use the verb thus: "I envy him his new playstation 3."
But we wouldn't say that we envy the playstation.
So I believe the adjective differs from the verb in this respect.

I'm sure the old verb "to covet" applies only to the object. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's

It gets worse. In my Am.Htg., both the verb and the adjective simply refer to the noun, which is the feeling of wishing what belongs to someone else were yours.

The verb is both transitive and intransitve, and there's no discussion of whether the direct object is the possession or its owner.
I was expecting a "usage note," but there is none.

Anonymous I'm envious of his new playstation 3.

That sounds acceptable to my ear, though it is by far the least common usage.

My informal search on Google reveals that 98% (my estimate) of the uses of "envious of" are followed by a noun or pronoun that references a person or group of persons (e.g., people of certain occupations or nationalities), an

Thanks, Jim.

At least my dictionary does make it clear that "envy" requires two separate elements:
(1) the thing we wish we had