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: To cramp; to straiten; to oppress; to starve; to distress; as, to be pinched for money. Want of room . . . pinching a whole nation. Sir W. Raleigh.

To move gayly; to wanton; to disport. Even as the waving sedges play with wind. Shak. The setting sun Plays on their shining arms and burnished helmets. Addison. All fame is foreign but of true desert, Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. Pope.

Playful; wanton; sportive. [R.] R. Browning. -- Play"some*ness, n. [R.]

; sufficiency; specifically, abundant productiveness of the earth; ample supply for human wants; abundance; copiousness. "Plenty of corn and wine." Gen. xxvii. 28. "Promises Britain peace and plenty." Shak. Houses of office stuffed with plentee. Chaucer. The teeming clouds Descend in gladsome plenty o'er the world. Tho…

Having no point; blunt; wanting keenness; obtuse; as, a pointless sword; a pointless remark.

That which causes a balance; a counterweight. Men of unbounded imagination often want the poise of judgment. Dryden.

Cowardice; want of spirit; pusillanimity.

to be an ancient or ancestral type. It is remarkable for its simplicity of structure and want of parapodia. It is the type of the order Archiannelida, or Gymnotoma. See Loeven's larva.

Heavy; dull; wanting; lightless or spirit; as, a ponderous style; a ponderous joke. Ponderous spar (Min.), heavy spar, or barytes. See Barite.

Destitute of property; wanting in material riches or goods; needy; indigent.

The quality or state of being poor or indigent; want or scarcity of means of subsistence; indigence; need. "Swathed in numblest poverty." Keble. The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty. Prov. xxiii. 21.

Application of science to the wants of men; the exercise of any profession; professional business; as, the practice of medicine or law; a large or lucrative practice. Practice is exercise of an art, or the application of a science in life, which application is itself an art. Sir W. Hamilton.

To straiten; to distress; as, to be pressed with want or hunger.

Consciousness of power; fullness of animal spirits; mettle; wantonness; hence, lust; sexual desire; esp., an excitement of sexual appetite in a female beast. [Obs.] Pride of India, or Pride of China. (Bot.) See Margosa. -- Pride of the desert (Zoöl.), the camel.

Goods that satisfy wants only indirectly as factors in the production of other goods, such as tools and raw material; -- called also instrumental goods, auxiliary goods, intermediate goods, or goods of the second and higher orders, and disting. from consumers' goods.

Wanting sufficient evidence to induce belief; not proved. Boyle. -- Proof"less*ly, adv.

The act of looking forward, or of providing for future wants; foresight.

The addition to the human body of some artificial part, to replace one that is wanting, as a log or an eye; -- called also prothesis.

Openly given up to lewdness; devoted to base or infamous purposes. Made bold by want, and prostitute for bread. Prior

he education of a child. Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Burke.