lust

From Middle English lust, from Old English lust (“lust, pleasure, longing”), 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.

• IPA^(key): /lʌst/
• Rhymes: -ʌst

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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. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 21:

     For little lust had she to talk 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 55184576, 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.

   • c. 1521, John Skelton, “Speke Parott”:

     Pompe, pryde, honour, ryches & worldly luſt
     Parrot ſayth playnly, ſhall tourne all to duſt

4. (obsolete) virility; vigour; active power
   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:

     Trees will grow greater, and bear better fruit, if you put salt, or lees of wine, or blood, to the root: the cause may be the increasing the lust or spirit of the root.

• (strong desire): See also Thesaurus:craving or Thesaurus:lust
• (general want or longing): See also Thesaurus:desire
• (delightful cause of joy): See also Thesaurus:pleasure
• (active power): lustihood, potency, vigour, virility

• wanderlust

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.

   He was lusting after the woman in the tight leather miniskirt.

• LUTs, UTSL, slut, ults

• IPA^(key): /lʏst/

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• Hyphenation: lust
• Rhymes: -ʏst

From Middle Dutch lust, from Old Dutch *lust, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz.

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

• bloedlust
• eetlust
• lusteloos
• lusthof
• lustig
• lustobject
• lustmoord
• lustoord
• lustprieel
• lusttuin
• moordlust
• roemlust
• strijdlust
• wellust

• Negerhollands: lyst

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

lust

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of lusten
2. imperative of lusten

From Middle Low German lust. Cognate to German Lust and Finnish lusti.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlusʲt/

lust (genitive lusti, partitive lusti)

1. pleasure, fun, joy, lust (non-sexual)

   Nad teevad seda niisama lusti pärast.

   They're doing it just for fun.

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

From Old Dutch *lust, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz.

lust m or f

1. enjoyment, pleasure
2. lust, desire
3. hunger, desire to eat

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• onlust

• Dutch: lust

• “lust”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “lust (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

From Proto-Germanic *lustuz.

• IPA^(key): /lust/

lust m

1. desire, pleasure, appetite, lust

   Him wæs metes micel lust ― he had a craving for food. (Ælfric's Homilies)

• Middle English: lust
  • English: lust

From Old Norse losti (late Old Norse lyst), from Middle Low German lust lüst, lyst, from Old Saxon lust, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz.

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lust c

1. (uncountable) lust (a mood of desire), joy, a keen interest

   jag har ingen lust att läsa idag

   I don't feel like reading today

2. a desire (for something specific)

• förlusta
• förlustelse
• läslust
• lusta
• lustgas
• lusthus
• lustig
• lustjakt
• lustresa
• lustspel
• lysten
• lystnad
• söklust

• lust in Svensk ordbok.

• luts, slut

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

lust c (plural lusten)

1. desire, appetite
2. lust, sexual desire

• ytlust

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