want: (1 the commonest S. sense; 3 cf. LESS ∥)
1.
to be without, lack
Tp. III. iii. 38
“they want the use of
tongue,”
John IV. i. 99
“the utterance of a
brace of tongues Must needs want
pleading for a pair of eyes”
(=be insufficient to plead), R3 V. iii. 13,
Cor. I. iii. 90
“'Tis not . . . that I
want love,”
Lucr. 389
“to want”
(=at missing),
Sonn. xxiv. 13
“eyes this cunning want
to grace their art”
; also intr. with “of”
Rom. II. ii. 78
“wanting of thy
love.”
2.
to be lacking, =LACK
1
Gent. I. ii. 92
“There wanteth but a
mean to fill your song,”
LLL. IV. iii. 237
“Where nothing wants
that want itself doth seek,”
Lr. IV. vi. 270
“if your will want
not.”
3.
with a negative, used
in a sense the reverse of what is intended
Mac. III. vi. 8
“Who cannot want the
thought . . .?”
(=Who can help thinking . . .?).