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

(head)

(require)

Verb

(requir)

(label) To ask (someone) for something; to request.

*, Bk.XI:

*:I requyre yow lete vs be sworne to gyders that neuer none of vs shalle after this day haue adoo with other, and there with alle syre Tristram and sire Lamorak sware that neuer none of hem shold fyghte ageynst other nor for wele, nor for woo.

*1526 , Bible , tr. William Tyndale, Mark V:

*:I requyre the in the name of god, that thou torment me nott.

To demand, to insist upon (having); to call for authoritatively.

*1998 , Joan Wolf, The Gamble , Warner Books:

*:"I am Miss Newbury," I announced, "and I require to be shown to my room immediately, if you please."

*2009 , Vikram Dodd, The Guardian , 29 December:

*:‘Regrettably, I have concluded, after considering the matter over Christmas, that I can no longer maintain the high standard of service I require of myself, meet the demands of office and cope with the pressures of public life, without my health deteriorating further.’

Naturally to demand (something) as indispensable; to need, to call for as necessary.

*1972 , "Aid for Aching Heads", Time , 5 June:

*:Chronic pain is occasionally a sign of a very serious problem, like brain tumors, and can require surgery.

*2009 , Julian Borger, The Guardian , 7 February:

*:A weapon small enough to put on a missile would require uranium enriched to more than 90% U-235.

To demand of (someone) to do something.

*1970 , "Compulsory Midi", Time , 29 June:

*:After Aug 3 all salesgirls will be required to wear only one style of skirt while on duty: the midi.

*2007 , Allegra Stratton, "Smith to ban non-EU unskilled immigrants from working in UK", The Guardian , 5 December:

*:The government would like to require non-British fiances who wish to marry a British citizen to sit an English test.