Verb

(en verb)

To wish for or to desire (something).

* , chapter=13

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)

, title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}

* Dryden

The disposition, the manners, and the thoughts are all before it; where any of those are wanting' or imperfect, so much ' wants or is imperfect in the imitation of human life.

To lack, not to have (something).

*, II.3.7:

he that hath skill to be a pilot wants' a ship; and he that could govern a commonwealth' wants means to exercise his worth, hath not a poor office to manage.

* James Merrick

Not what we wish, but what we want , / Oh, let thy grace supply!

* Addison

I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it.

(colloquially with verbal noun as object) To be in need of; to require (something).

* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2

The mowing-machine always wanted oiling. Barnet turned it under Jacob's window, and it creaked—creaked, and rattled across the lawn and creaked again.

(dated) To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.

* Ben Jonson

You have a gift, sir (thank your education), / Will never let you want .

* Alexander Pope

For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find / What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind.

Verb

(en verb)

To try.

I attempted to sing, but my throat was too hoarse.

to attempt an escape from prison

* Longfellow

Something attempted , something done, / Has earned a night's repose.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Sarah Glaz

, title= Ode to Prime Numbers , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.}}

(obsolete) To try to move, by entreaty, by afflictions, or by temptations; to tempt.

* Thackeray

It made the laughter of an afternoon / That Vivien should attempt the blameless king.

(archaic) To try to win, subdue, or overcome.

one who attempts the virtue of a woman

* Shakespeare

Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further: / Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute.

(archaic) To attack; to make an effort or attack upon; to try to take by force.

to attempt the enemy's camp

* Motley

without attempting his adversary's life