desire

verb

1. To want; to wish for earnestly.

   “I desire to speak with you.”

   “Neither shall any man desire thy land.”

   “[S]eeing you desire your child to live, / Thanks, but you work against your own desire; […]”

2. To put a request to (someone); to entreat.

   “And when they founde no cause of deeth in hym, yet desired they Pilate to kyll him.”

   “Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.”

3. To want emotionally or sexually.

   “She has desired him since they first met.”

4. To express a wish for; to entreat; to request.

   “Then shee said, Did I desire a sonne of my Lord ? did I not say, Doe not deceiue me?”

   “Desire him to go in; trouble him no more.”

5. To require; to demand; to claim.

   “A doleful case desires a doleful song.”

6. To miss; to regret.

   “She shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.”

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)The feeling of desiring; an eager longing for something.

   “Too much desire can seriously affect one’s judgement.”

   “He stood...filled with the desire that his son should be like him, and should have sons like him, to people the earth. It is the strongest desire that can come to a man - if it comes to him at all - stronger even than love or the desire for personal immortality.”

2. (countable, usually)Someone or something wished for.

   “It is my desire to speak with you.”

   “You’re my heart’s desire.”

   “It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].”

3. (uncountable, usually)Strong attraction, particularly romantic or sexual.

   “His desire for her kept him awake at night.”

   “Doesn't my body drive you wild with desire?”

4. (uncountable, usually)Motivation.