Lust sb.

Now literary. Also 3 Orm. lusst, 4 lost(e, 4–7 luste. [Common Teut.: OE. lust masc. corresponds to OFris. lust masc., OS. lust fem. (MDu., Du. lust masc.), OHG. lust fem. (MHG. lust masc. and fem., mod.G. lust fem.), Goth. lustu-s masc.:—O.Teut. *lustu-z, prob. repr. a pre-Teut. *ḷs-tu-s, f. the zero-grade of the root *las- to long for, occurring in Gr. λιλαί-εσθαι (:—*li-lasy-), Skr. laṣ (:—*la-ls, a reduplicated form); the suffix -tu- forms nouns of action from verbal roots.

  Cf. ON. loste wk. masc. (MSw. luste, loste), Da. lyst, mod.Icel. lyst (see LIST sb.), which are cognate and synonymous, but differ in declension. The mod.Sw. lust has been assimilated in form to the Ger. word.]

  † 1.  Pleasure, delight. Const. in, to, unto. (Sometimes coupled with liking.) Obs.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxiv. § 3. Þa sæde he [Epicurus] ꝥ se lust wære ꝥ hehste good.

c. 1275.  Lune Ron, 93, in O. E. Misc., 96. He [Jesus] is feyr and bryht on heowe … Of lufsum lost of truste treowe.

1340.  Ayenb., 92. Of zuyche blisse and of zuyche loste no liknesse … ne may by yuounde … ine lostes of þe wordle.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 2. Sone, have mynde how þou haddist lust in this lyfe, and Lazar peyne.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, XI. x. 587. Allas my swete sones … for your sakes I shalle lese my lykynge and lust.

c. 1529.  Skelton, E. Rummyng, 222. Whan we kys and play, In lust and in lykyng.

c. 1580.  Sidney, Ps. XXII. v. Let God save hym in whom was all his lust.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 1384. Gazing vppon the Greekes with little lust. Ibid. (1607), Timon, IV. iii. 492. Whose eyes do neuer giue, But thorow Lust and Laughter.

  † b.  pl. Pleasures. Obs.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke viii. 14. Þa ðe … of carum … & of lustum þiss lifes synt for-þrysmede.

1340.  Ayenb., 72. Þer hy habbeþ … hire solas, hire blisse, and hire confort, and alle hire lostes.

c. 1369.  Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 581. My lyf, my lustes be me lothe.

1382.  Wyclif, 2 Tim. iii. 4. Loueris of lustis [Vulg. voluptatum amatores] more than of God.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 3317. All your ledys … [shal] lyue in þis lond with lustes at ease.

c. 1420.  Anturs of Arth., 213. This es it to luffe paramoures, and lustis [v.r. listes] and litys.

  c.  quasi-concr. A source of pleasure or delight; † an attraction, charm (obs.). poet.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 46. O Venus,… Thou lif, thou lust, thou mannes hele. Ibid., II. 46. In kertles and in Copes riche Thei weren clothed … With alle lustes that eche knew Thei were enbrouded overal.

1423.  James I., Kingis Q., lxv. Our lyf, oure lust, oure gouernoure, oure quene.

1549–62.  Sternhold & H., Ps. lxii. 7. God is my glory and my health, my soules desire and lust.

  † d.  Liking, friendly inclination to a person. Obs.

c. 1430.  Freemasonry, 506. For they were werkemen of the beste, The emperour hade to them gret luste.

1535.  Coverdale, Num. xiv. 8. Yf the Lorde haue lust vnto vs [1611 If the Lord delight in vs].

  † 2.  Desire, appetite, relish or inclination for something. Const. of; to (with sb. or inf.). Sometimes joined with leisure (cf. LIST sb.⁴ 2). Obs.

  Now merged in the stronger use 5 (influenced by 4).

a. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. xiii. [xii.] (1890), 436. Mid unʓeswencedlice luste heofonlicra gode.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., I. 86. Him wæs metes micel lust.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 118. Þeo hwule þæt te lust is hot toward eni sunne.

1340.  Ayenb., 253. Þe oþer stape is þet me zette mesure ine þe loste and mid þe likinge of þe wille.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xxviii. 285. I hadde no lust to go to tho parties.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, VI. i. The weder was hote about noone, and syre launcelot had grete lust to slepe.

15[?].  Frere & Boye, 56, in Ritson, Anc. Pop. Poet., 37. Hys dyner forth he drough: Whan he sawe it was but bad, Ful lytell lust thereto he had.

1528.  Tindale, Obed. Chr. Man, To Rdr. 4 b. Yf we thurst, his [God’s] trueth shall fulfill oure luste.

1530.  Palsgr., 580/2. I have nothing so good luste to my worke as I had yesterdaye.

1570.  Foxe, Serm. 2 Cor. v. Ep. Ded. A iiij. Men wholy geuen ouer to worldly studyes haue litle leysure, and lesse lust, either to heare Sermons or to read bookes.

1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burn. Pestle, I. iii. If you would consider your state, you would haue little lust to sing, I wisse.

1627.  W. Sclater, Exp. 2 Thess. (1629), 276. I have neither lust nor leasure to enter the question.

  † b.  with indefinite article. Obs.

1426.  Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 23360. I had a lust … for to holden my passage.

1528.  Paynel, Salerne’s Regim. (1535), 11 b. No man ought to eate but after he hath a luste.

1530.  Palsgr., 616/1. I have a luste to gyve you a blowe on the cheke.

1549–62.  Sternhold & H., Ps. lxxi. (1566), 167. From my youth I had a lust Stil to depend on thee.

1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., II. 161. Such as did seeke the Glory of Martyrs … out of a lust of dying.

  † c.  (One’s) desire or wish; (one’s) good pleasure. Phr. at (after) one’s lust. Obs.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., John i. 13. Ðaðe ne of blodum ne of uillo vel of lust lichomæs ne from uillo vel lust [weres] ah Gode ʓecened sint.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2899. Sun ferr your lust yee foln noght, Þat yee for-gete him þat yow wroght.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1620. Weepe now na more, I wol thy lust fulfille.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 8852. All the pepull to pyne put and dethe at oure lust?

c. 1450.  Merlin, 268. Whan he was all to brosed and hym diffouled at her lust saf thei haue hym not slain.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xci. 11. Myne eye also shal se his lust of myne enemies.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 18. If by the law of your lust, you account me a craftie … felow.

1579.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 59. Wil thy Father … giue thee libertie to lyue after thine owne lust?

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., IV. iv. 134. When I am hence, Ile answer to my lust.

1677.  Sedley, Ant. & Cl., I. 5. The Valiant cannot board, nor Coward fly, But at the lust of the unconstant Sky.

  † d.  = LONGING vbl. sb.¹ 2. Obs.

1530.  Palsgr., 241/2. Luste as women with chylde have.

  3.  spec. in Biblical and Theological use: Sensuous appetite or desire, considered as sinful or leading to sin. Often pl. esp. in the lusts of the flesh, fleshly lusts.

a. 1000.  Juliana, 409. Him sylfum selle þynceð leahtras to fremman ofer lof godes lices lustas.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 29. Ðre þing beð þat mankin heuieð. On is þe selue lust, oðer is iuel lehtres. Ðe þridde flesliche lustes.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 3. Pricunges of fleschliche fulðen to licomliche lustes.

a. 1400.  Cursor M., 28749 (Cott. Galba). Fasting and gude bisines gers a man fle lustes of fless.

1526.  Tindale, 1 John ii. 16. All that is in the worlde (as the lust of the flesshe, the lust of the eyes, and the pryde of gooddes).

1604.  Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 335. We haue Reason to coole our raging Motions, our carnall Strings, or vnbitted Lusts.

1641.  Wilkins, Math. Magick, I. i. (1648), 2. Which set a man at liberty from his lusts and passions.

1857.  Maurice, Ep. St. John, viii. 130. These sensual pleasures, these gods of our creation, these lusts which we are feeding.

1900.  J. Watson, in Expositor, Sept., 193. This world with its pride and its riches and its lust and its glitter must pass away.

  4.  Sexual appetite or desire. Chiefly and now exclusively implying intense moral reprobation: Libidinous desire, degrading animal passion. (The chief current use.)

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 358. Weres wylla to ʓefremmanne nime bares geallan & smyre mid þone teors & þa hærþan þonne hafað he mycelne lust.

a. 1100.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 524/34. Ueneris, lustes.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 26254. Man þat menges him wit best for his flexs lust to ful-fill.

c. 1315.  Shoreham, Poems, I. 1981. Ne stren may nou encressy Wyþ-oute flesches loste.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), iv. 27. The grete lust that he had to hire.

c. 1412.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1563. Thou deemest luste and love convertible.

1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 800. Loue comforteth, like sun-shine after raine, But lusts effect is tempest after sunne.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 82. Cats,… in the time of their lust (commonly called ‘catwralling’), are wilde and fierce, especially the males.

a. 1635.  Naunton, Fragm. Reg. (Arb.), 15. He never spared man in his anger, nor woman in his lust.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 1015. In Lust they burne; Till Adam thus ’gan Eve to dalliance move.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 637. Wine urg’d to lawless Lust the Centaurs Train.

a. 1704.  T. Brown, Sat. agst. Wom., Wks. 1730, I. 56. We need not rake the brothel and the stews, To see what various scenes of lust they use.

1756.  Burke, Subl. & B., I. x. The passion which belongs to generation, merely as such, is lust only.

1855.  Tennyson, Maud, II. I. ii. The feeble vassals of wine and anger and lust.

  5.  In mod. rhetorical use (with some transferred notion of sense 4): Lawless and passionate desire of or for some object. In poetry sometimes without implied reprobation: Overmastering desire (esp. of battle).

1678–9.  Dryden & Lee, Œdipus, IV. i. He, who brings him forth, shall have reward Beyond ambition’s lust.

1699.  Cibber, Xerxes, II. The neighing Steeds too foam and champ,… and show a noble Lust of War.

1760.  Sterne, Serm., xi. Wks. 1815, III. 118. The insatiate lust of being witty.

1786.  W. Thomson, Watson’s Philip III. (1839), 238. The monarch was governed by a lust of power.

a. 1797.  H. Walpole, Mem. Geo. III. (1845), II. xii. 274. It appeared that he felt nothing really but the lust of applause.

1818.  Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. viii. 660. The very lust of pleasing the men on whose favour … their prosperity … depends.

1857.  Ruskin, Pol. Econ. Art, 12. A mean lust of accumulation.

1865.  Kingsley, Herew., vii. He felt the lust of battle tingling in his veins.

1868.  Miss Yonge, Cameos, I. xxxiv. 293. From the time that Edward I. gave way to the lust of conquest, his history is one of painful deterioration.

  † 6.  Vigor, lustiness; fertility (of soil). Obs.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. viii. (1495), 54. To restore the luste bothe in plantes and in beestes.

1521.  Fisher, Serm. agst. Luther, Wks. (1876), 323. No lust of grenenes nor of lyfe appereth.

c. 1540.  J. Heywood, Four P. P. (Copland), D j b. I left her in good helthe and luste.

a. 1591.  R. Greenham, Serm., i. (1599), 96. It putteth life and lust into vs,… to doe all those good workes which may glorifie God.

1605.  Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. iv. § 5. 19. Being as a plant that cometh of the lust of the earth without a formal seed.

c. 1616.  S. Ward, Coal from Altar (1627), 9. As courage to the souldier, mettle to the horse, lust to the ground.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 442. The increasing the Lust of the Earth or of the Plant.

1648.  Hunting of Fox, 5. The Vine … springs not up … out of the lust and fatnesse of the earth.

1682.  Weekly Mem. Ingen., 44. The Salt and Lime together contribute some warmth, as well as lust and heat, to the Seed, and help the defect of other manure.

  7.  attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., as lust-bed, -fiend, -itch, -pandar, -storm; b. objective, instrumental, etc., as lust-baiting, -belepered, -blind, -born, † -breathed, -burned, -burning, -cankered, -dieted, -engendered -fired, -greedy, -grown, -stained, -stung, -tempting, -wearied adjs.; c. special comb., as † lust-garden [after G. lust-garten, Du. lustgaard], a pleasure-garden; † lust-wort, Gerarde’s transl. of the Du. name of the Round-leaved Sundew, Drosera rotundifolia.

1599.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, I. iii. 181. Taynting our Townes and hopefull Academes With your *lust-bating most abhorred.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 77. Þe heuenliche leche seinte poul … rere us of ure fule *lust bedde.

1633.  Ford, ’Tis Pity, IV. iii. I’le drag Thy *lust be-leapred body through the dust.

1600.  Rowlands, Letting Humours Blood, xv. 21. This *lustblind Louer’s vaine.

1887.  Browning, F. Furini, iii. *Lust-born His Eve low bending took the privilege Of life.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 3. *Lust-breathed Tarqvin leaues the Roman host.

1613.  Heywood, Silver Age, III. Wks. 1874, III. 143. The *lust-burn’d and wine-heated monsters.

1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vi. 1108. Oft two Creatures of a divers kinde … Confounding their *lust-burning seeds together, Beget an Elf, not like in all to either.

1608.  Machin, Dumb Knt., III. i. F 3 b. The putrefied sores Of these *lust-cankerd great ones.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, IV. i. 70. The superfluous, and *Lust-dieted man, That slaues your ordinance.

1633.  Ford, Love’s Sacr., IV. ii. To hew your *lust ingendred flesh to shreds.

1609.  Markham, Famous Whore (1868), 19. To breede in them this *lust-feind iealousie.

1599.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, I. iii. 175. Like a swaggerer, *lust fiered.

1616.  W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. iii. 79. Walla … Was by a lust-fir’d Satyre ’mong our bowres Well-neere surpriz’d.

1873.  E. Brennan, Witch of Nemi, 155. Purge my *lust-fretted soul of its remorse.

1589.  Troubl. Trav. Tyme, 10. The Paradise, or *Lust-garden of the Lord.

1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. III. Furies, 786. Like *Lust-greedy Goates.

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, III. (1590), 302. A … *lust-growne rage.

1599.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, I. iv. 189. Marry Alcides thirteenth act must lend A glorious period, and his *lust-itch end. Ibid., I. ii. 175. Ioues *lust-Pandar, Maias iuggling sonne.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., V. i. 36. Thy Bed *lust-stain’d, shall with Lusts blood bee spotted.

1605.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. IV. Captains, 1125. Hurried with passion’s windes Whither their *Lust-storms do transport their minds.

1597.  Bp. Hall, Sat., I. ix. 22. Some *lust-stung letcher.

1601.  Munday, Death Earl Huntington, I. iii. (1828), 35. She is remov’d from his *lust-tempting eye.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. i. 38. The neere *Lust-wearied Anthony.

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, III. clv. 1366. It is called … in low Dutch Loopichecruit, which in English signifieth *Lust woort, bicause … cattell, if they do but onely taste of it, are prouoked to lust.

1760.  J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 318. Lust-wort, Drosera.