lust Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a strong sexual desire
    lecherousness; lustfulness.
  2. noun self-indulgent sexual desire (personified as one of the deadly sins)
    luxuria.
  3. verb have a craving, appetite, or great desire for
    starve; crave; thirst; hunger.

WordNet

Lust noun
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.
Definitions
  1. Pleasure Obs. " Lust and jollity." Chaucer.
  2. Inclination; desire. Obs.
    For little lust had she to talk of aught. Spenser.
    My lust to devotion is little. Bp. Hall.
  3. Longing desire; eagerness to possess or enjoy; -- in a had sense; as, the lust of gain.
    The lust of reigning. Milton.
  4. Licentious craving; sexual appetite. Milton.
  5. Hence: Virility; vigor; active power. Obs. Bacon.
Lust intransitive verb
Etymology
AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Lusted; present participle & verbal noun Lusting
Definitions
  1. To list; to like. Obs. Chaucer. " Do so if thou lust. " Latimer. ✍ In earlier usage lust was impersonal.
    In the water vessel he it cast When that him luste. Chaucer.
  2. 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.
    Whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. Deut. xii. 15.
    Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matt. v. 28.
    The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. James iv. 5.

Webster 1913