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n. [ OE. need, neod, nede, AS. neád, n&ymacr_;d; akin to D. nood, G. not, noth, Icel. nauðr, Sw. & Dan. nöd, Goth. nauþs. ] 1. A state that requires supply or relief; pressing occasion for something; necessity; urgent want. [ 1913 Webster ]

And the city had no need of the sun. Rev. xxi. 23. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have no need to beg. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Want of the means of subsistence; poverty; indigence; destitution. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Famine is in thy cheeks;
Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is needful; anything necessary to be done; (pl.) necessary things; business. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Situation of need; peril; danger. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Exigency; emergency; strait; extremity; necessity; distress; destitution; poverty; indigence; want; penury. -- Need, Necessity. Necessity is stronger than need; it places us under positive compulsion. We are frequently under the necessity of going without that of which we stand very greatly in need. It is also with the corresponding adjectives; necessitous circumstances imply the direct pressure of suffering; needy circumstances, the want of aid or relief. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Needed; p. pr. & vb. n. Needing. ] [ See Need, n. Cf. AS. n&ymacr_;dan to force, Goth. nauþjan. ] To be in want of; to have cause or occasion for; to lack; to require, as supply or relief. [ 1913 Webster ]

Other creatures all day long
Rove idle, unemployed, and less need rest. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ With another verb, need is used like an auxiliary, generally in a negative sentence expressing requirement or obligation, and in this use it undergoes no change of termination in the third person singular of the present tense. “And the lender need not fear he shall be injured.” Anacharsis (Trans. ). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be wanted; to be necessary. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

When we have done it, we have done all that is in our power, and all that needs. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Of necessity. See Needs. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. necessary; as, provided them with all needed equipment. Opposite of unnecessary.
Syn. -- needful, required, requisite. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who needs anything. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Full of need; in need or want; needy; distressing. [ Archaic ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The needful time of trouble. Bk. of Com. Prayer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Necessary for supply or relief; requisite. [ 1913 Webster ]

All things needful for defense abound. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Need"ful*ly, adv. -- Need"ful*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ From Needy. ] In a needy condition or manner; necessarily. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]