Want, v. i. [Icel. vanta to be wanting. See Want to lack.]
1. To be absent; to be deficient or lacking; to fail; not to be sufficient; to fall or come short; to lack; — often used impersonally with of; as, it wants ten minutes of four.
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. Dryden.
2. To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.
You have a gift, sir (thank your education),
Will never let you want. B. Jonson.
For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find
What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind. Pope.
☞ Want was formerly used impersonally with an indirect object. “Him wanted audience.” Chaucer.