Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To have a strong feeling to have (something); wish (to possess or do something); desire greatly: synonym: desire.
  • intransitive verb To desire (someone to do something).
  • intransitive verb To request the presence or assistance of.
  • intransitive verb To seek with intent to capture.
  • intransitive verb To have an inclination toward; like.
  • intransitive verb Informal To be obliged (to do something).
  • intransitive verb To be in need of; require.
  • intransitive verb To be without; lack.
  • intransitive verb To be inclined or desirous; wish.
  • noun The condition or quality of lacking something usual or necessary.
  • noun Pressing need; destitution.
  • noun Something desired.
  • noun A defect of character; a fault.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Lacking; deficient.
  • To be without; be destitute of; lack: as, to want knowledge or judgment; to want food, clothing, or money.
  • To be deficient in; fall short in; be lack ing in respect of, or to the amount of.
  • To do without; dispense with; spare.
  • To have occasion for, as something requi site, useful, or proper; require; need.
  • To feel a desire for; feel the need of; wish or long for; desire; crave.
  • To desire to see, speak to, or do business with; desire the presence or assistance of; de sire or require to do something: as, you are the very man we want; call me if I am wanted; the general wanted him to capture the battery.
  • To be lacking, deficient, or absent.
  • To fail; give out; fall short.
  • To be in need; suffer from lack of some thing.
  • noun The mole or moldwarp.
  • noun Lack; deficiency; scarcity; dearth, or absence of what is needed or desired: as, want of thought; want of money.
  • noun A vacant part, place, or space; a vacancy.
  • noun That which is lacking, but needed; the vacancy caused by the absence of some need ful, important, or desirable thing.
  • noun The state of being without means; poverty; penury; indigence.
  • noun A time of need.
  • noun That which cannot be dispensed with; a necessity.
  • noun In coal-mining, same as nip, 8.
  • noun Synonyms Insufficiency, scantiness, dearth, default, failure.
  • noun Requirement, de sideratum.
  • noun Need, Indigence, etc. (see poverty), dis tress, straits.
  • noun A glove.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To be without; to be destitute of, or deficient in; not to have; to lack
  • transitive verb To have occasion for, as useful, proper, or requisite; to require; to need.
  • transitive verb To feel need of; to wish or long for; to desire; to crave.
  • noun The state of not having; the condition of being without anything; absence or scarcity of what is needed or desired; deficiency; lack
  • noun Specifically, absence or lack of necessaries; destitution; poverty; penury; indigence; need.
  • noun That which is needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt; what is not possessed, and is necessary for use or pleasure.
  • noun (Mining), engraving A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.
  • intransitive verb To be absent; to be deficient or lacking; to fail; not to be sufficient; to fall or come short; to lack; -- often used impersonally with of.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English wanten, to be lacking, from Old Norse vanta; see euə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English wanten ("to lack"), from Old Norse vanta ("to lack"), from Proto-Germanic *wanatōnan (“to be wanting, lack”), from *wanô (“lack, deficiency”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)wAn-, *wān- (“empty”). Cognate with Middle High German wan ("not full, empty"), Middle Dutch wan ("empty, poor"), Old English wana ("want, lack, absence, deficiency"), Latin vanus ("empty"). See wan.

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Examples

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  • A mole.

    Thus, wanti-tump or onti-tump, a molehill. - old provincial term from Gloucestershire.

    May 2, 2011