lust
/ˈlʌst/ noun, verb
Forms lusts lusting lusted lustest lustedst lusteth
- noun A feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal. “Seeing Leslie fills me with a passionate lust.”
- noun (archaic) A general want or longing, not necessarily sexual. “The boarders hide their lust to go home.”
- noun (archaic) A delightful cause of joy, pleasure. “An ideal son is his father's lasting lust.”
- noun (obsolete) Virility; vigour; active power.
- verb (intransitive, usually in the phrase lust after) To look at or watch with a strong desire, especially of a sexual nature.
- verb (archaic; transitive or intransitive with after, for, to, etc.; formerly also reflexive) To desire.
Synonyms
lustihood potency vigour virility aphrodisia carnality colt's tooth concupiscence the hots lech love pride urge to merge lecherousness lustfulness luxuria crave hunger thirst starve
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English lust, from Old English lust (“lust, pleasure, longing”), from Proto-West Germanic *lustu, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz.
Akin to Old Saxon, Dutch lust, Old Frisian, Old High German, German Lust, Swedish lust, Danish lyst, Icelandic lyst, Old Norse losti, Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌿𐍃 (lustus), and perhaps to Sanskrit लष् (laṣ), लषति (laṣati, “to desire”) and Albanian lushë (“bitch, savage dog, promiscuous woman”), or to English loose. Compare list (“to please”), listless.
From Middle English lusten, from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Pleasure [Obs.] " Lust and jollity." Chaucer.
- noun Inclination; desire. [Obs.]
- verb To list; to like. [Obs.] Chaucer. " Do so if thou lust. " Latimer.
- verb To have an eager, passionate, and especially an inordinate or sinful desire, as for the gratification of the sexual appetite or of covetousness; --often with after.
Etymology [AS. lust, lust, pleasure, longing; akin to OS., D., G., & Sw. lust, Dan. & Icel. lyst, Goth lustus, and perh. tom Skr. lush to desire, or to E. loose. Cf. List to please, Listless.]
Etymology [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lust”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details