lust

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A strong feeling of sexual desire.

   The film portrays their relationship as driven entirely by lust.

2. 2
   noun

   A strong, eager desire for something, not necessarily sexual.

   His lust for power led him to betray his closest friends.

3. 3
   verb

   To feel a strong desire for someone or something.

   He lusted after wealth and the status it would bring.

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.

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