A state that requires supply or relief; pressing occasion for something; necessity; urgent want. And the city had no need of the sun. Rev. xxi. 23. I have no need to beg. Shak. Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy. Jer. Taylor.
Want of the means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution. Chaucer. Famine is in thy cheeks; Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes. Shak.
That which is needful; anything necessary to be done; (pl.) necessary things; business. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Situation of need; peril; danger. [Obs.] Chaucer.
To be in want of; to have cause or occasion for; to lack; to require, as supply or relief. Other creatures all day long Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest. Milton.
To be wanted; to be necessary. Chaucer. When we have done it, we have done all that is in our power, and all that needs. Locke.
Of necessity. See Needs. [Obs.] Chaucer.
98,828 entries. Headwords are matched first, then definition text.