Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for WANT
WANT, n. [waunt; Sax. wan, supra; wanian, to fail; Goth. wan, deficiency, want. This seems to be primarily a participle of wane.]
- 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.
- Need; necessity; the effect of deficiency. Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and more saucy. – Franklin.
- Poverty; penury; indigence. Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as to conceive how others can be in want. – Swift.
- The state of not having. I can not write a letter at present for want of time.
- That which is not possessed, but is desired or necessary, for use or pleasure. Habitual superfluities become actual wants. – Paley.
- A mole. – Heylin.
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