desire
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: dĭ-zīrʹ
enpr: dĭ-zīʹər
ipa: /dɪˈzaɪə/
enpr: dĭ-zīrʹ
enpr: dĭ-zīʹər
enpr: dē-zīrʹ
enpr: dē-zīʹər
ipa: /dɪˈzaɪɹ/
ipa: /dɪˈzaɪɚ/
ipa: /diˈzaɪɹ/
ipa: /diˈzaɪɚ/
rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
Forms: form: desires
form: desiring
form: desired
form: desired
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: desire
form: desire
form: desired
form: desire
form: desirest
form: desired
form: desiredst
form: desires
form: desireth
form: desired
form: desire
form: desired
form: desire
form: desired
form: desire
form: -
form: desiring
form: desired
Etymology: From Middle English desir, desire (noun) and desiren (verb), from Old French desirer, desirrer, from Latin dēsīderō (“to long for, desire, feel the want of, miss, regret”), apparently from de- + sidus (in the phrase de sidere, "from the stars") in connection with astrological hopes. Compare consider and desiderate. Displaced native Old English wilnung (“desire”) and wilnian (“to desire”).
Senses: examples: text: I desire to speak with you.
text: Neither shall any man desire thy land.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 34:24:
text: [S]eeing you desire your child to live, / Thanks, but you work against your own desire; […]
ref: 1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Lancelot and Elaine”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; VI), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 88:
glosses: To want; to wish for earnestly.
examples: text: And when they founde no cause of deeth in hym, yet desired they Pilate to kyll him.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts:
text: Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 15:
glosses: To put a request to (someone); to entreat.
examples: text: She has desired him since they first met.
glosses: To want emotionally or sexually.
examples: text: Then shee said, Did I desire a sonne of my Lord ? did I not say, Doe not deceiue me?
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 4:28:
text: Desire him to go in; trouble him no more.
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:
glosses: To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.
examples: text: A doleful case desires a doleful song.
ref: c. 1580, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses:
glosses: To require; to demand; to claim.
examples: text: She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.
ref: 1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC:
glosses: To miss; to regret.
Derived terms: desired effect
desiring-production
desirive
leave a lot to be desired
leave much to be desired
leave something to be desired
Related terms: desideratum
desirability
desirable
desirableness
sidereal
undesirability
undesirableness