lust

Noun

lust (countable and uncountable, plural lusts)

1. A feeling of strong desire, especially such a feeling driven by sexual arousal.

   Seeing Leslie fills me with a passionate lust.

2. (archaic) A general want or longing, not necessarily sexual.

   The boarders hide their lust to go home.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 21, page 262:

     For little luſt had ſhe to talke of ought, […]

   • 1608, Joseph Hall, “Epistle I. To S^r. Robert Darcy. The Estate of a True, but Weake Christian.”, in Epistles […], volume I, London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Samuel Macham & E[leazar] Edgar […], →OCLC, 2nd decade, page 108:

     [T]he vvorld thruſts it ſelfe betvvixt me and heauen; and, by his darke and indigeſted parts, eclipſeth that light vvhich ſhined to my ſoule. Novv, a ſenſeleſſe dulneſſe ouer-takes mee, and beſots mee; my luſt to deuotion is little, my ioy none at all: Gods face is hid, and I am troubled.

3. (archaic) A delightful cause of joy, pleasure.

   An ideal son is his father's lasting lust.

   • 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC:

     Pompe, pryde, honour, ryches, and wordly lust, / Parrot sayth playnly, shall tourne all to dust.

4. (obsolete) Virility; vigour; active power.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “V. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 457, page 119:

     It is reported, that Trees will grow greater, and beare better Fruit, if you put Salt, or Lees of Wine, or Bloud to the Root. The Cauſe may be the Encreaſing the Luſt or Spirit of the Root; […]

Verb

lust (third-person singular simple present lusts, present participle lusting, simple past and past participle lusted)

1. (intransitive, usually in the phrase lust after) To look at or watch with a strong desire, especially of a sexual nature.
   • 1845, Samuel Fox, “Anglo[-]Saxon Monks. Theodore. A Monastic Vision. […]”, in Monks and Monasteries; Being an Account of English Monarchism (The Englishman’s Library; XXVIII), London: James Burns, […], page 36:

     He then thought that all the sins which he had ever committed were personified, and that they all cried out against him. One cried out, I am thy lust, with which thou formerly lustedst unlawfully, and against the precepts of God: […]

   • 1886, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Story of King Sulayman Shah and his Niece”, in Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume I, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC, page 149:

     Quoth she, “What offence have I committed?” and quoth he, “What offence can be greater than this? Thou sentest after yonder youth and broughtest him hither, on account of the lust of thy heart, so thou mightest do with him that for which thou lustedst.” Said she, “I know not carnal desire. Verily, among thy pages are those who are comelier and seemlier than he; yet have I never desired one of them.”

2. (archaic; transitive or intransitive with after, for, to, etc.; formerly also reflexive) To desire.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew xvij:[12], folio xxiiij, recto:

     And I ſaye vnto you that helias ys come alredy / and they knewe hym nott: butt have done vnto him whatſoever they luſted.

   • 1529, Thomas Cranmer, “Num. XVIII. Archbishop Cranmers order concerning the Proctors of the Court of Arches, shewn to be inconvenient, by a Paper presented to the Parlament, as followeth.”, in John Strype, editor, Memorials of the Most Reverend Father in God, Thomas Cranmer, Sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. […], London: […] Richard Chiswell, […], published 1694, appendix, page 36:

     [I]t were more conſonant with reaſon, that a man were ſuffered to take to his Proctor ſuch as he luſteth, and may beſt truſt unto of his matier, than be driven to commit the order of his cauſe, being mefortune of great weight, to ſuch a one as he never knew, ne ſaw before. For whan a man is at his choiſe to chooſe him what Proctor he luſt beſt, if his matier do delay through the default of his Proctor, than, he can blame no body but himſelf.

   • 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio cclxxxvi, recto, column 1; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:

     I Luſt I haue an appetyte to a thyng / Iappette. prime cõiu. [first conjugation] There is no lyuyng creature that can haue all thynge he luſteth foꝛ: […] I Luſte oꝛ longe foꝛ a thyng as a woman wͭ chylde dothe / […]

   • 1563, The Seconde Tome of Homilies, […], folios 227, verso and 247, verso:

     Wherof he that luſte to ſee examples, let hym ſearch theyꝛ lyues. […] If we be an hungred, we luſte foꝛ bꝛeade.

   • a. 1569 (date written), Roger Ascham, “The First Booke for the Youth [Teachyng the Brynging vp of Youth]”, in Margaret Ascham, editor, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], published 1570, →OCLC, folio 13, recto:

     It auaileth not, to ſée them well taught in yong yeares, and after whã they cum to luſt and youthfull dayes, to giue them licence to liue as they luſt them ſelues.

   • 1570, Margaret Ascham, “A Præface to the Reader”, in Roger Ascham, edited by Margaret Ascham, The Scholemaster: Or Plaine and Perfite Way of Teaching Children, to Vnderstand, Write, and Speake, the Latin Tong, […], London: […] John Daye, […], →OCLC, signature B.ij., verso:

     We paſſed from children and came to yonge men, namely, Ientlemen: we taulked of their to moch libertie, to liue as they luſt: […]

   • 1583 May 11 (Gregorian calendar), Phillip Stubbes, The Anatomie of Abuses: Contayning a Discouerie, or Briefe Summarie of Such Notable Vices and Imperfections, as Now Raigne in Many Christian Countreyes of the Worlde: […], London: […] Richard Iones, signature C.ij., verso:

     But now there is ſuch a confuſe mingle mangle of apparell in Ailgna, and ſuch pꝛepoſterous exceſſe therof, as euery one is permitted to flaũt it out, in what apparell he luſt himſelfe, oꝛ can get by anie kind of meanes.

   • 1584, Will[iam] Barret, “The money and meaſures of Babylon, Balsara, and the Indies, with the customes, &c. written from Aleppo in Syria, An. 1584. by M. Will. Barret. Babylon: The weight, measure, and money currant there, and the customes of merchandize.”, in Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Nauigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, […], 2nd edition, London: […] George Bishop, Ralph Newberie, and Robert Barker, published 1599, →OCLC, page 271:

     The cuſtome in Babylon, as wel inward as outwardd, is in this maner: Small wares at 6 per 100, Coꝛal and amber at 5 and a halfe per 100, Venice cloth, Engliſh cloth, Kerſies, Mockairs, Chamblets, Silks, Veluets, Damaſks, Sattins ⁊ ſuch like at 5 per 100: ⁊ they rate the goods without reaſon as they luſt themſelues.

   • 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], “Epitaphes”, in Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 56:

     Of him alſo was made this. Here is Elderton lyeng in dust, / Or lyeng Elderton, choſe which you lust. / Here he lyes dead, […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Galatians 5:17, signature [S4], verso, column 1:

     Foꝛ the fleſh luſteth againſt the Spirit, and the ſpirit againſt the fleſh: and theſe are contrary the one to the other: ſo that yee cannot doe the things that yee would.

   • 1618, Michaell Baret, “Of the free Horse”, in An Hipponomie or The Vineyard of Horsemanship: […], London: […] George Eld, page 70:

     Euen ſo (if he doe not proportionate his helpes and corrections, (according to the diſpoſition of the horſe) in not giuing correction enough, hee will looſe a great glory in his actions, or elſe in not giuing him any, in letting him doe what hee luſt, hee will become ſo ſtubborne and idle, that his courage will bee (as it were) vtterly extinct, and hee will bee as ill as the former, doing that hee doeth without any grace.

   • 1629, Iohn Mayer, “Iames Chap. III.”, in Praxis Theologica: or, The Epistle of the Apostle S^t Iames Resolved, Expounded, and Preached vpon by Way of Doctrine and Vse: […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Bostocke, […], page 255:

     O conſider this and pity thy ſelfe, acknowledging that whilſt thou haſt beene thus wilfull and inflexible, thou haſt by the violence of thy ſoules ſickneſſe, beene made franticke and out of thy wits, ſith, as neither with a mad man, none could hitherto preuaile with thee, but thou wouldeſt doe, what thou luſtedſt, and therefore now returne to thy right mind, […]

   • 1638, Henry Killigraew, The Conspiracy: A Tragedy, as It Was Intended, for the Nuptialls, of the Lord Charles Herbert, and the Lady Villers, London: […] Iohn Norton, for Andrew Crooke, signature G3, recto:

     And though I am encompaſt with all the dangers I may juſtly feare from ſo barbarous a place, which dares doe any thing it luſts unto, without regard of lawes or hoſpitality, I’de tell you ſo, and were you from the Dung-hill that you ſtalke on (it is no better) I’de pull downe that unmanner’d pride within you.

   • 1648 October, Robert Sanderson, A Sermon Preached at Newport in the Isle of Wight, October 1648. In the Time of the Treaty., London: […] T. M. for Andrew Crook, […], published 1653, page 4:

     The Spirit and the fleſh are contraries, and they luſt contrary things, verſe 17.

   • 1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XXII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume IV, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, pages 142–143:

     ALBEIT, gentle reader, I have luſted earneſtly, and endeavoured carefully (according to the meaſure of ſuch ſlender ſkill as God has vouchſafed me, and as convenient leiſure from other occaſions of needful profit and healthful paſtime have permitted) that theſe little books, which I here put into thy hands, might ſtand inſtead of many bigger books—yet have I carried myſelf towards thee in ſuch fanciful guiſe of careleſs diſport, […]

   • 1898, G[eorge] W[arrington] Steevens, “The Battle of the Atbara”, in With Kitchener to Khartum, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, page 150:

     They had been seen from the British line as it advanced, ambling and scrambling over rise and dip, firing heavily, as they were ordered to, and then charging with the cold bayonet, as they lusted to.

   • 1898 June, C[harles] J[ohn] Cutcliffe Hyne, “Prince Rupert the Buccaneer”, in Lord Frederic Hamilton, editor, The Pall Mall Magazine, volume XV, number 62, London, section III (The Rape of the Spanish Pearls), page 221:

     Under their feet were the gratings of the great ship’s beak; before them was the high plain wall of her lofty forecastle; and at its summit were the outraged Spaniards lusting for their destruction.

   • 1904, A[lexander] Gordon Mitchell, John the Baptist: A Drama, Paisley: Alexander Gardner, page [7]:

     Soldier that never lustedst for glory! / Star in the Sun that paledst thy ray! / Not without awe thine immortal story / Trace we in page of a sacred Play.

Noun

lust m (plural lusten, diminutive lustje n)

1. lust, desire (especially sexual, but also more generally)
2. object of desire
3. pleasure, joy

   Het was een lust om naar hem te kijken en te luisteren.

   It was a pleasure watching and listening to him.

4. (usually in the plural) benefit, advantage
5. a taste for, strong tendency to

Verb

lust

1. inflection of lusten:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

Declension

Descendants

• → Ingrian: lusti (“beautiful, funny”)
• → Votic: lusti (“beautiful”)

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• onlust

Descendants

• Dutch: lust
  • Afrikaans: lus
  • Negerhollands: lyst

Declension

Strong a-stem:

Descendants

• Middle English: lust
  • English: lust

Usage notes

The tone in "ha lust" and "tappa lusten" matches "feel like doing" or "want" rather than "desire" or "lust for" or the like. Thought of as a separate, non-literary-sounding sense of "lust" by native speakers.

Declension

Derived terms

• förlusta
• förlustelse
• läslust
• lustgas
• lusthus
• lustjakt
• lustmord
• lustresa
• lustspel
• söklust

Related terms

• lusta
• lustig
• lysten
• lystnad

Derived terms

• ytlust

Further reading

• “lust”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011