Category:Lack

Lack, n. Etym: [OE. lak; cf. D. lak slander, laken to blame, OHG. lahan, AS. leán.]

1. Blame; cause of blame; fault; crime; offense. [Obs.] Chaucer.

2. Deficiency; want; need; destitution; failure; as, a lack of sufficient food. She swooneth now and now for lakke of blood. Chaucer. Let his lack of years be no impediment. Shak.

lack Lack, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Lacked; p. pr. & vb. n. Lacking.]

1. To blame; to find fault with. [Obs.] Love them and lakke them not. Piers Plowman.

2. To be without or destitute of; to want; to need. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. James i. 5.

lack Lack, v. i.

1. To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc. What hour now I think it lacks of twelve. Shak. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty. Gen. xvii. 28.

2. To be in want. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger. Ps. xxxiv. 10.

lack Lack, interj. Etym: [Cf. Alack.]

Defn: Exclamation of regret or surprise. [Prov. Eng.] Cowper.