want

views updated May 23 2018

want / wänt; wônt/ • v. 1. [tr.] have a desire to possess or do (something); wish for: I want an apple | we want to go to the beach | [tr.] she wanted me to go to her room | [intr.] I'll give you a lift into town if you want. ∎  wish to consult or speak to (someone): Tony wants me in the studio. ∎  (usu. be wanted) (of the police) desire to question or apprehend (a suspected criminal): he is wanted by the police in connection with an arms theft. ∎  desire (someone) sexually: I've wanted you since the first moment I saw you. ∎  inf., chiefly Brit. (of a thing) require to be attended to in a specified way: the wheel wants greasing. ∎  inf. ought, should, or need to do something: you don't want to believe everything you hear. ∎  [intr.] (want in/into/out/away) inf. desire to be in or out of a particular place or situation: if anyone wants out, there's the door.2. [intr.] chiefly archaic lack or be short of something desirable or essential: you shall want for nothing while you are with me. ∎  [tr.] (chiefly used in expressions of time) be short of or lack (a specified amount or thing): it wanted twenty minutes to midnight it wants a few minutes of five o'clock.• n. 1. chiefly archaic a lack or deficiency of something: Victorian houses which are in want of repair it won't be through want of trying. ∎  the state of being poor and in need of essentials; poverty: freedom from want.2. a desire for something: the expression of our wants and desires.PHRASES: for want of because of a lack of (something): for want of a better location we ate our picnic lunch in the cemetery.ORIGIN: Middle English: the noun from Old Norse vant, neuter of vanr ‘lacking’; the verb from Old Norse vanta ‘be lacking.’ The original notion of “lack” was early extended to “need,” and from this developed the sense ‘desire.’

want

views updated May 11 2018

want2 if you want a thing done well, do it yourself proverbial saying, mid 16th century; in 1975, Margaret Thatcher was quoted as modifying this to, ‘In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.’ (Compare if you would be well served, serve yourself.)
if you want something done, ask a busy person modern proverbial saying, late 20th century, implying that a busy person is most likely to have learned how to manage their time efficiently. (Compare the busiest men have the most leisure.)

want

views updated May 11 2018

want condition or fact of being deficient XIII; lack of the necessaries of life XIV; requirement XVI. Earlier (XII) used as predicative adj. ‘lacking’, ‘wanting’ — ON. *want, vant, n. of vanr lacking, missing.
So want vb. is lacking; be without XII. — ON. *wanta, vanta impers. vb.

want

views updated May 18 2018

want1 for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the man was lost proverbial saying, early 17th century; late 15th century in French. The saying is often quoted allusively to imply that one apparently small circumstance can result in a large-scale disaster.

Want

views updated May 29 2018

WANT

The absence or deficiency of what is needed or desired.

Want of jurisdiction, for example, is a lack of authority to exercise in a particular manner a power possessed by a tribunal or board.