Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WANT, n. [waunt; Sax. wan, supra; wanian, to fail; Goth. wan, deficiency, want. This seems to be primarily a participle of wane.]

1. Deficiency; defect; the absence of that which is necessary or useful; as, a want of power or knowledge for any purpose; want of food and clothing. The want of money is a common want. – 2 Cor. viii. ix. From having wishes in consequence of our wants, we often feel wants in consequence of our wishes. – Rambler.
2. Need; necessity; the effect of deficiency. Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and more saucy. – Franklin.
3. Poverty; penury; indigence. Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as to conceive how others can be in want. – Swift.
4. The state of not having. I can not write a letter at present for want of time.
5. That which is not possessed, but is desired or necessary, for use or pleasure. Habitual superfluities become actual wants. – Paley.
6. A mole. – Heylin.