subs. (old colloquial).—1. A person in need of anything: cf. HAVES and HAVE-NOTS. Also (2) spec. = an unmarried person, ‘one in want of a mate’ (HALLIWELL).
1611. DAVIES, The Scourge of Folly, i. 21, Epig. 116 [Works, Ed. GROSART]. The WANTERS are despis’d of God and men.
