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单词 need
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needn.1

Brit. /niːd/, U.S. /nid/
Forms:

α. Old English nid, Old English–Middle English nied, Old English–Middle English nyd, late Old English nuð, Middle English niede, Middle English nud, Middle English nyed, Middle English nyede, 1500s nide.

β. Old English neid (Northumbrian), Old English (non-West Saxon)–1500s ned, Middle English–1500s nede, Middle English–1600s neede, Middle English– need, late Middle English neethe, late Middle English nethe, late Middle English neyde (northern); Scottish pre-1700 ned, pre-1700 nede, pre-1700 neede, pre-1700 neid, pre-1700 neide, pre-1700 neyd, pre-1700 neyde, pre-1700 1700s– need.

γ. Old English nead, early Middle English neat, Middle English–1500s neade; Scottish pre-1700 nead, pre-1700 neade.

δ. Old English–early Middle English niod, Old English–Middle English neod, early Middle English neot, early Middle English neoð, early Middle English nod, early Middle English node, Middle English neode, Middle English noede.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian nēd , nāth , Middle Dutch not , noot , nood , noit , (rare) node (Dutch nood ), Old Saxon nōd , Old High German nōt , nōth (Middle High German nōt , noet , noit , noyt , German Not ), Old Icelandic nauð , nauðr , neyð , Old Swedish nöþ (Swedish nöd ), Old Danish nøth (Danish nød ), Gothic nauþs , and further with Old Prussian nautin , accusative singular; perhaps ultimately < a variant of an extended form of the same Indo-European base as Old English nē- , nēo- (in e.g. nēobedd death bed; compare also the second element in Old English (plural) orcnēas evil spirits, walking corpses (compare orc n.2)), Old Icelandic nár corpse, Gothic naus dead person.In Old English the word shows variation both in form and gender. The forms nīed , nȳd , nēd (see α and β forms) would be normal as representatives of a feminine i -stem, but in cases where the gender can be distinguished they usually appear as neuters. A form without i-mutation also occurs (see γ. forms; compare Old Icelandic nauð ), which appears to have been feminine. The extremely common feminine form nēod (see δ. forms) in Old English probably arises from confusion with the frequent word nēod desire, earnestness, zeal, pleasure, etc. (see needful adj.2), which conversely occurs in forms nīed, nȳd, nēd.
I. Necessity, requirement.
†1. Violence, force, constraint, or compulsion, exercised by or upon a person. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > obedience > compulsion > [noun]
needeOE
distressc1384
force1387
stressc1390
artingc1400
coactionc1400
constrainauncec1400
compulsion1462
enforcement1477
coercion1495
forcement1524
enforcing1531
strain1532
constraint1533
coercement1592
constrainment1593
duress1596
compulse1616
obligement1641
cogency1702
coercive control1827
steamrolling1879
compression1880
eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) xxxvii. 11 (13) Et uim faciebant qui querebant animam meam : & ned dydun ða sohton sawle mine.
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. iv. 44 Hiere anweald is ma hreosende for ealddome þonne of æniges cyninges niede.
OE Beowulf 2454 Þonne se an hafað þurh deaðes nyd dæda gefondad.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xi. 12 Soþlice fram iohannes dagum fulwihteres oð þis heofena rice þolað nead, & strece nimað þæt.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 7694 Childer of his aun sede, Suld be for-driuen vte wit nede [a1400 Gött. for nede].
c1480 (a1400) St. Eugenia 388 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 135 Scho wes nere, quhen þe monk assalȝeit sa hyr laydy þar for ned to ta.
a1530 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) iii. 196 This wyff swa on hyr husband yhede That hym behowyd apon nede Tell hyr all the suthfastnes.
2.
†a. of (also for, on) need: of or by necessity; unavoidably, compulsorily. Also with quantifier. Cf. need adv. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > [adverb]
needeOE
of (also for, on) needeOE
needseOE
needlingc1225
needs cost?a1300
needlingsc1300
needlya1350
of necessityc1390
needfullya1398
necessarily?a1400
needgatesa1400
needingsa1400
needwaysa1400
needslyc1425
perforcec1425
needilyc1475
needwayc1480
of (or on) force?1507
need-forcea1525
requisitely1565
of very force1587
necessitously1637
necessitively1647
par force1819
imperatively1833
necessitatedly1864
of perforce1897
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. xxv. 350 Seo þearlwisnis þæs heardan lifes him ærest of nede becwom for bote his synna.
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) ii. xvi. 148 His sunu for neade Eadfrið to Pendan þæm cyninge gebeag.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1016 Ða forlet he his hergunga & efeste norðweard & beah þa for nede.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 15 (MED) Alswa of neate bute þu were Monslaȝe, oðer þu to-breke wed durge, oðer for-leȝen, heo weren ȝe tintraȝed.
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 2660 (MED) Hir wening was so long, To hir fader hye gan mene For nede.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. 1687 (MED) Þe sonne..dwellyng in þe dragoun hede..þer mote falle Eclips of verray nede.
c1480 (a1400) St. Peter 654 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 26 Quha had ben þar, of ned his hart suld have ben sar.
a1500 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1932) 161 195 (MED) In eelde for nede he muste be ware For pasteryng in leene leese.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. b Yow worthis on neid For to assege yone castel.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 89 The peple follow man, on neid, Thir prelatis.
1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 97 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 264 Thairfoir of verry neid we mon byd still.
c1600 MS Edinb. Univ. La. III 21 f. 94v Perrulus..to lat bluid bot gif it be of gret neid & that moist be efter the middis of the day.
b. of needs: of or by necessity; unavoidably, compulsorily. Cf. needs adv. Now archaic and rare.
ΚΠ
1598 B. Yong tr. J. de Montemayor Diana i. i. 29 My life (yoong Shepherdesse) for thee Of needes to death must post.
1602 N. Breton Mothers Blessing sig. B2 Giue not thine eare to euery Idle tale, And trust no more, then what of needs thou must.
1659 in Rothesay Town Council Rec. (1935) I. 33 That it of neads sould be buildet ere James culd pan or ruiff therupon.
1845 S. Judd Margaret i. xvii. 163 She sung or said to herself some words of the Master's..for of needs must a stark child's nature in such a crisis appeal to something above and superior to itself.
1876 R. M. Milnes Poet. Wks. 68 The old Venetian sung those verses rare, ‘That Venice must of needs eternal be.’
1890 Scribner's Mag. Apr. 494/2 If an evolution of musical forms was to take place at all, it must of needs be in accordance with..purely musical organic principles.
1909 E. Pound Personae 20 One must of needs be a hang'd early riser To catch you at worm turning.
3. Necessity for a particular action or course of action arising from the facts or circumstances of a situation.
a. Without article. Chiefly in if need require, if need be, if need were, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > [noun] > need arising from the circumstances
needeOE
mistera1325
mist?a1425
occasion1545
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) i. xxvii. 86 Þa symbelnesse to mærsienne mæssesonges, gif þæt ned abædeð.
OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) cxxxii. 172 Þonne ðe neod becume þæt þu hwylcon men þærmid helpan scyle, þonne help þu him ðyssum gemete.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 215 (MED) Swo hoh ech chirche socne don þenne hie nede sen.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 2283 He ladde him in to an orchard, as it gret neod [a1400 Trin. Cambr. nud] were, To speke wiþ him priueliche.
1389 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 49 (MED) Haue þo torches redy to brynge hym with to cherche, ȝif nede be.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 2242 Thou..art withoute nede For lawe of londe in such a drede.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 14913 (MED) Fast it neghes to þe nede For his to suffur passion.
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iii. 1225 For love of God, take every womman heede To werken thus, if it comth to the neede.
a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 128 (MED) I wold for his love shede my blode, yf nede wer.
1503 in Surtees Misc. (1890) 30 For reparacionz, when neide requierethe.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 242 Archers to comfort them that were most wearie if neede were.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. v. 254 To the end he might finde safe refuge when neede required.
1640 R. Brome Sparagus Garden ii. iii Learne to shift for myselfe in time and need be.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1691) viii. 105 There may be about six Millions.., which (if need require) might actually Labour.
1736 Compl. Family-piece ii. i. 52 Let the Patient gargle this as often as need requires.
1747 J. Wesley Primitive Physick 28 Repeat this, if Need be.
1808 W. Scott Marmion ii. iv. 82 To hold A chapter,..And, if need were, to doom to death.
1854 C. Dickens Hard Times 232 ‘I am not a moral sort of fellow’, he said, ‘and I never make any pretensions to the character of a moral sort of fellow. I am as immoral as need be’.
1872 Appletons' Jrnl. 5 Oct. 379/1 The czar..can, if need be, put one or two millions of well-armed, well-disciplined, and devoted men into the field.
1903 A. Austin Flodden Field iii. 114 What proves his bearing and his fate in fight—Well, need is none, to ponder upon that.
1955 L. P. Hartley Perfect Woman (1959) 238 He wanted someone to look down on, protectively and, if need be, patronisingly.
1980 W. Abish How German is It? iii. xxxii. 188 The kinds of friends she can call, if need be, at midnight or even later.
b. As the complement of there is (expressed or implied) and modified by a limiting determiner, such as little, no, or what. With infinitive, that-clause, or of with gerund or noun of action.
ΚΠ
1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1890) II. 76 Albeit a fer gretear number..mycht hef bene to thame accumpaniit bot thare wes na neid.
1566 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure I. v. f. 13v Claudius seyng the maide like to be rescued, by the multitude that was assembled, said, that there was no neede of that hurlie burlie.
a1600 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie (1648) viii. vi. sig. Cc3v What need was there that they should bargaine with the Cardinall?
1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia iii. iii. 53 Little neede there was and lesse reason, the ship should stay.
a1644 F. Quarles Mystical Ecstasy in F. T. Palgrave Golden Treasury (1891) I. ii. 97 No need for either to renew a suit, For I was flax and he was flames of fire.
1664 G. Etherege Comical Revenge iii. v. 39 But you see there was no need to hazard Your Reputation; here's no enemy appears.
1724 J. Swift Some Observ. Wood's Half-pence 8 But what need is there of disputing.
1766 D. Garrick Neck or Nothing ii. i. 28 Ha, ha, ha! a very good stratagem: but there is no need of it now.
1793 Pennsylvania Gaz. 12 June By thus extending..the authority of parents and guardians, there will be the less need for the exertion of other authority.
1845 F. E. Paget Tales Village Children 2nd Ser. 40 There was no need of you to confess it.
1853 H. Melville Bartleby in Putnam's Monthly Mag. Dec. 614/2 There would seem little need for proceeding further in this history.
1892 S. Baring-Gould In Roar of Sea I. xi. 149 ‘My good sir—allow me to explain—’ ‘There is no need,’ said Coppinger.
1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage cvi. 559 There was as little need to do this as there was use. It was merely something he did for his own pleasure.
1953 J. Wain Hurry on Down 93 All right mate! No need ter show yer bloody skill!
1960 G. W. Target Teachers (1962) 29 Now there's no need to get nasty, Steve. I'm only trying to help.
1996 G. Linehan & A. Mathews Father Ted (1999) 143/2 Mrs Doyle: OK, so I'll stay here. Ted: There's really no need.
c. With the, and followed by infinitive.
ΚΠ
1605 B. Jonson Sejanus i. sig. C4 For we are farre from flat'ring our friend,..as from the need to flatter. View more context for this quotation
1677 N. Lee Rival Queens i. i. 8 Where's the need to mention publick loss, When each receives particular disgrace?
1748 (title) A Treatise shewing the Need we have to rely upon God as sole Protector of this Province.
1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) xii. 299 Art is the need to create; but in its essence..it is impatient of working with lame or tied hands.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt III. xxxviii. 69 Esther spoke under a strong impulse—partly affection, partly the need to grasp at some moral help.
1891 O. Wilde Picture of Dorian Gray v. 90 Suddenly she felt the need to speak.
1927 E. R. Calvert Capital Punishm. in 20th Cent. ii. 23 The abolitionist recognises..the need to protect society against murder, but he realises that the problem cannot be solved by the mere infliction of unpleasant consequences.
1974 E. Pollard et al. Hedges (1977) ii. 34 The need to swing left rather than right at the end of the furrow is imposed by a fixed mouldboard, turning the furrow slice to the right.
1995 Independent 16 Feb. 30/3 We are trying to balance with public accountability the need to be extremely efficient managerially.
†4.
a. need is, it is need: it is necessary, it is needful. With infinitive or that-clause, or (in subordinate clause) without complementation. Also with modifier, as great, much, no, etc. Obsolete.
(a) With noun or personal pronoun as indirect object. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
OE (Northumbrian) Rushw. Gospels: John xvi. 30 Non opus est tibi ut quis te interroget : ne ned [OE Lindisf. nedðarf] is ðe þæte hwelc ðec gifregne.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xl. 343 Þæt man underfo on æte and on wæte mare ðonne his lichaman neod sy.
OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) ii. iii. 104 Me ys neod þæt ic menge þæt Lyden amang þissum Englisce.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 5358 Bidde we. Þe laferrd cristess hellþe. Off all þatt æfre ned uss iss To lif. & ec to sawle.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 37 (MED) Ne reccheð crist nane leasunge, ne him nis na neoð.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 11 (MED) Muchel is us þenne neod, leoue breðren, wet [read þet] we on þisse middelerd liuien sod scrift.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 7531 Nis þe non neod [c1300 Otho Nis hit no neod] to bringen mid þe muchel genge.
a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 125 Newe ðe for[ð]i, so ðe neddre doð: it is te ned.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 10852 Maria, quarefor es þou madd? Es þe na nede to be radd.
a1450 Castle Perseverance (1969) l. 1003 It is no nede ȝou for to lere To cachyn Mankynd.
(b) Without indirect object. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. xviii. 7 Necesse est enim ut ueniant scandala : ned uel ðarflic is forðon þæt hia cyme ondspyrniso.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxxiv. 472 Neod is þæt æswicunga cuman.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 9 (MED) Hit is muchel neot þet we þonkien ure drihten.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 60 Hit is neod to habben best warde.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2241 Quan it is ned..Bereð dat siluer hol agon.
a1325 (c1280) Southern Passion (Pepys 2344) (1927) 1034 (MED) No neod hit nys Þat eny man þe aske ouȝt.
c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 927 Crist loued holy chirche..so wel that he deyde for it so sholde a man for his wyf if it were nede.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 19589 [To] do penance ned es i-nogh.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 20225 Now is ned þat i haf o þe deuil na dred.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 18 If no man hadde partid from God bi synne, it hadde be noo nede to make siche feestis.
c1450 tr. Secreta Secret. (Royal) 12 It is a precious and an honurabille thing to a kyng forto..speke but litille but if it be nede.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 130 (MED) Nede hit is to witte how hit [sc. franchise] may be conquerid.
a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 33 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 96 All yar names to nevyn as now It nocht neid Is.
1533 J. Gau in tr. C. Pedersen Richt Vay To Rdr. sig. Aiii It is greit neid to informe and tech [etc.].
1570 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandry (new ed.) f. 7 Kepe truely thy Saboth the better to spede, kepe seruant fro gadding but when it is nede.
a1628 F. Greville Treat. Monarchy ix, in Remains (1670) 111 They want no Bullion, Cloth, or Food, But with the Surplus, when need is, supply'd, Enrich themselves.
1676 M. Hale Contempl. Moral & Divine i. 351 The best of men are visited with them, and it is but need they should.
1682 J. Bunyan Holy War 203 Mr. Pride can when need is, call himself Mr. Neat, Mr. Handsome, or the like. View more context for this quotation
b. In predicative use: necessary, needful. Obsolete (rare after 15th cent.).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > [noun] > that which is necessary
needc1230
necessityc1390
necessary?a1425
exigence1446
requisitec1487
exigency1588
exigents1588
sine qua non1602
essentiala1620
implement1632
indispensable1681
needful1681
simple1858
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 94 To þe uttre temptatiun is neod patience.
c1300 St. Brendan (Laud) 578 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 235 In one weiȝe ich hyne fond þare non neode nas no ston In a fenni dich ich hit caste.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 179 (MED) In the yle of Cathay men fynden all maner thing þat is nede to man.
c1450 (a1400) Libeaus Desconus (Calig. A.ii) (1969) 453 (MED) De dwerke was her squyer And seruede her..Of all þat nede was.
c1535 T. Cranmer Let. 12 Oct. in Remains (1883) I. 147 Whose labours and endeavours were never more need to be had.
1849 R. C. Trench Sacred Lat. Poetry Pref. 6 Some Reformed Churches..have..made themselves much poorer than was need.
5.
a. to have need (with past had need): to require or be under a necessity to do something. Also (in Middle English) with bare infinitive and (in Old English) with that-clause. Cf. need v.2 10. Now Scottish and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > need [verb (intransitive)] > need to do something
to have needOE
to have mistera1400
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. xiv. 16 Non habent necesse ire : nabbas ned is þæt hia gegæ uel ðarf is him to geonganne.
OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 16 Nabbað hi neode to farenne.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 151 (MED) We habbeð niede him to bidden be daiȝ and be nihte.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 95 (MED) God zette..þet trau of lyue; hueruore þet his frut hedde nyede to loky þet lyf to þan þet hit ssolde ete.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) Heb. vii. 27 Such a man..hath not nede ech day..to offre oostis or sacrificis.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) 19589 Þou has nede to do penance I-nogh.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 224 (MED) Al Cristene men han nede to knowe bileve of þe gospel.
1456 W. Worcester in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 134 Ye have nede fare fayre wyth hym, for he ys full daungerouse.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) v. xi. 103 Nede hadde he none to wesshen hym selue.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iii. 60 We shall haue neede T'employ you towards this Romane. View more context for this quotation
1789 Pennsylvania Gaz. 11 Nov. Such men never have need to beg business, for the resources of their own minds and application is a fund of wealth.
1822 T. Jefferson Let. 6 Mar. in Writings (1984) 1457 I feel..the weight of opinion to which I may be opposed, and..I have need to ask the indulgence of a belief, that the opinion I have given is the best result I can deduce.
1850 O. Winslow Inner Life ii. 55 The best of saints have need to be warned against the worst of sins.
1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song i. 60 You've more need to be down in the house helping your mother wash out the hippens.
1991 M. Sunley Fields in Sun (BNC) xix. 219 The weather remained piercingly cold, so that whenever men or beasts had need to venture outdoors they were chilled to the bone.
†b. had need (equivalent to a modal verb in past tense with present subjunctive force): would require to, ought to (do something).
(a) With to-infinitive. Obsolete.Common in the 16th and 17th centuries.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > [verb (intransitive)]
haveeOE
oweOE
byrc1175
needc1395
busc1400
had needa1425
behovec1475
fall1681
note1789
ought1816
oughta1840
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 26 (MED) Þei ben worse þan frentikes, and so þei hadden nede to be chastisid til þis passion were fro hem.
1470 J. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 553 And ye purpose to bargayn wyth hym ye had need to hye yow.
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Luke ix. f. 85v Therunto had we nede to haue a good summe of money.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique f. 117v An other speakes, as though his wordes had neede to be heaued out with leauers.
1594 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 iv. ii. 4 George...They haue bene vp this two daies. Nicke. Then they had more need to go to bed now.
1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 107 A Chirurgian when he maketh incision..had need to use great dexteritie.
1620 Horæ Subseciuæ 456 Women, as the weaker vessels, had need to be very careful.
1675 C. Cotton Burlesque upon Burlesque in Wks. (1725) 252 He who to determine is Of such a tickle-point as this, Had need to have his Wits about him.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 160 Then said the Pilgrims one to another, We had need cry to the Strong for strength. View more context for this quotation
1734 I. Watts Reliquiæ Juveniles xlvi. 171 A feeble Man and diffident had need to pray daily, Lord, lead us not into Temptation.
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present iii. xii. 275 The Unseen Powers had need to watch over such a man.
1879 ‘G. Eliot’ Theophrastus Such vi. 129 If the bad-tempered man wants to apologise he had need to do it on a large public scale.
1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 124 The others [sc. roads] tempted chiefly with their treasures of hedge and ditch... A loiterer you had need to be, did you choose one of them.
(b) With bare infinitive. Obsolete.In sentences of this form need tends to become adverbial in character; cf. had rather and need adv.; contrast, however, quot. 18762.
ΚΠ
1461 T. Playter in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 236 Ye had nede send a man by-fore in all hast.
c1475 Mankind (1969) 354 (MED) Corn hade nede be dere, Ellys ȝe xall haue a pore lyffe.
1573 G. Harvey Let.-bk. (1884) 175 It had neede be a high point of pollicie that should rob Master Machiavel of his pollicie.
1595 A. Copley Wits Fittes & Fancies 202 Indeed sir..I had need haue two eyes, to discerne so pettie a goe by ground as you.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 76 Shepheards of People had need know the Kalenders of Tempests in State.
1681 E. Hickeringill Horrid Sin Man-catching i. 23 They had need be Men of Cunning and Ability that can swear thorow-stitch and cleaverly.
1728 J. Gay Beggar's Opera iii. iii. 42 One had need have the Constitution of a Horse to go thorough the Business.
1753 L. M. tr. J. Du Bosc Accomplish'd Woman II. 80 Morality had need employ its strongest reasonings.
1834 W. Beckford Italy; with Sketches Spain & Portugal II. 233 The Portuguese had need have the stomachs of ostriches.
1863 C. C. Clarke Shakespeare-characters i. 19 Men had need bear ‘charmed lives’.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda III. v. xxxv. 30 You had need hire men to..chip it all over artistically to give it an elderly-looking surface.
1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby I had mair need wark.
6.
a. Imperative call or demand for the presence, existence, possession, etc., of a person or thing; imperative call or demand for a person or thing. Frequently as complement of there is (chiefly in negative contexts).In Old English with genitive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > [noun] > a need or requirement > that motivates behaviour
needOE
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) ix. 252 Nis gode nan neod ure æhta.
lOE Charter: Bp. Denewulf to Ælfred (Sawyer 1287) in A. J. Robertson Anglo-Saxon Charters (1956) 28 Þenne þæs nuð bið his men beon gearuwe ge to ripe, ge to huntoðe.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 16280 (MED) His aun muth nu has him dempt; o wijtnes es na nede.
a1425 (?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) 750 (MED) And whoso es funden hand-haueing, It es no nede of witnesing.
1480 W. Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxiv. 229 Ther folowed..honger, scarcite, meschyef, and nede of money.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. i. 7 [He] claps me his rapier on the boord, and sayes, God send me no need of thee. View more context for this quotation
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxvi. 230 There is need of Reason and Judgment to discern between naturall, and supernaturall Gifts.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 103 So few understand the need of faith, and the necessity of a work of Grace in their Soul. View more context for this quotation
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. iii. 129 There being no need for these, of windless, roap, or carf, whence these sort of Coale-works are commonly call'd Foot-ridds, or Footrills.
1728 A. Ramsay Poems in Wks. (1951–74) II. 37 Nor was there Need for Ten per Cent, To pay Advance for Money lent.
1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women II. ix. 137 Who does not see the need of Piety?
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 97 Wherever the double coupling iron is used, there is no need of these riders.
1802 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 8 142 They were never in danger of losing any; and therefore there was no need of the new discovery.
1854 C. Norton Eng. Laws for Women in 19th Cent. 73 In later years there had been no need for such arguments for silence.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People iv. §5. 200 The crisis had taught the need of further securities against the royal power.
1925 W. Cather Professor's House ii. vi. 252 I never went..to get my diary... I didn't feel the need of that record.
1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Two Towers iii. vii. 137 It is time for sleep. Sleep! I feel the need of it, as never I thought any dwarf could.
1997 PC Week 25 Feb. 20/1 Both products will free users from searching Web sites manually, offering an integrated way to deliver data to users without the need of a third-party ‘push’ system.
b. to have need.
(a) With of, for, †to, †unto. Also with modifier, as great, much, no, etc.In Old English with genitive.
ΚΠ
OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) xix. 34 Þa cwædon þa hlafordas hwi untige ge þæne folan; Ða cwædon hig forþam þe drihten hæfð his neode.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 7373 Þin allmess dede onn alle þa. Þatt hafenn ned off hellpe.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 11582 He [sc. Christ] wass mann..Þatt haffde ned to fode.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 3 Ȝif eniman seid eawiht to eou, segged þet þe lauerd haued þar-of neode.
a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 594 Of cristes lore we haue ned.
c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 1722 (MED) Þer of hadde sche no nede, Of non maner þing Oȝain tristrem.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 445 (MED) What nede hast þou to riches?
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 12929 (MED) Þe kind of his manhede..fode of body has of nede.
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 1045 (MED) Of sunne ne mone had þay no nede.
a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 812 (MED) Thow shalt me call in dede Whan thow hast on-to me nede.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope i His hows..had grete nede of reparacion.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xiiiiv The teth wyll fall out whan he hath moost nede to them.
c1580 ( tr. Bk. Alexander (1925) I. i. 1868 Of leich I trow he sall haif neid.
1583 P. Barrough Methode of Phisicke ii. ix. 67 They haue more need of extenuatiue meates then those that haue the Pleurisy.
1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. sig. ⁋3 A wastefull Prince, that had neede of a Guardian.
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 193 Children..having then no further need of this propulsive cause.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 253 Nature hath need of what she asks. View more context for this quotation
1753 L. M. tr. J. Du Bosc Accomplish'd Woman I. 25 Innocence itself hath as much need of a mask or veil as the Face.
1790 G. Colman Battle of Hexham i. 15 Here come two more musterers; troth we have need of 'em.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 156 Was he to be ranked with men who had no need of the royal clemency?
1854 J. H. Newman Lect. Hist. Turks i. i. 7 The Tartars..have no need in their wars of any commissariat at all.
1947 J. Steinbeck Pearl v. 83 Juana had need of a man; she could not live without a man.
1988 J. Heller Picture This v. 41 Rembrandt had need for a woman under his roof to care for the infant and attend to the house.
†(b) With noun phrase as immediate complement. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1557 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Diall Princes (1568) i. xxxviii. 56 To kepe himselfe only from one evyl man, he had nede both hands, feete, and frends.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 413 Here he had need All circumspection. View more context for this quotation
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 1107 Thou hast need much washing to be toucht. View more context for this quotation
c.
†(a) (me, them, etc.) stands need: I, they, etc., have need. Obsolete.Showing need as the subject of stand, with the person affected by need expressed as the indirect object. Compare the constructions need is, it is need with noun or personal pronoun as indirect object at 4.In quot. OE in us stands need on hand: we have a pressing need. Cf. on hand at hand n. Phrases 1i(a).With this and senses 6c(c), 6d, compare phrases at eye n.2 Phrases, awe n.1 Phrases 1.
ΚΠ
OE Laws of Æðelred II (Corpus Cambr. 201) vii. a. vi. §2. 262 Mæssige man æghwilce dæge..ane mæssan sinderlice for ðare neode, þe us nu on handa stent, oð þæt hit betere wurðe.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 23983 Wede o welth wil i namar, Clething wil i me tak o care, Þar-til [Fairf. þer-to] me standes nede.
?a1425 (?a1350) T. Castleford Chron. (1996) II. l. 23168 Þar famen come opon þar hende, Nede þam stode þar lifes defende.
c1440 (?a1400) Sir Perceval (1930) l. 184 (MED) A mayden scho tuke hir withalle, Þat scho myȝte appon calle When þat hir nede stode.
†(b) to stand need: to be in need, to have need. Chiefly with of, to do something. Obsolete (regional in later use).
ΚΠ
?a1425 (?a1350) T. Castleford Chron. (1996) II. l. 20768 If chance tid Kyng Arthur coms, Bale to bigin in þar kyngdoms, Recette to haf, if þai stand nede, Þar lifes to safe, of griȝ to spede.
1551 R. Crowley Pleasure & Payne sig. Aivv For aye when I Stode nede of meate ye gaue me fode.
1578 T. Lupton All for Money sig. C.jv If you stoode neede of me you should finde me your friende.
1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 260 Though we have better grounds then to stand need to build upon it.
a1785 W. Jabet Eighteen Pract. Serm. (1787) vi. 106 We shall be led to consider..how greatly we stand need of the divine Grace to aid and support us.
1886 R. E. G. Cole Gloss. Words S.-W. Lincs. (at cited word) One stans need to tak' care of one's lasses now-a-days.
(c) to stand in need: to be in need, to have need. Chiefly with of, †to do something.
ΚΠ
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 733/2 If you stande in nede of me you shall fynde I am your frende.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. xlviii. 96 Petitionarie prayer belongeth only to such as..stand in need of reliefe from others.
1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. vi. 277 Their fields stand in neede of continuall watering.
1630 W. Travers Vindiciæ Ecclesiæ Angl. ix. 66 Who themselues stand in neede to bee saued.
1701 W. Wotton Hist. Rome i. 15 His Mind truly stood in need of Instruction.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. x. 658 A realm of which these were the fundamental laws stood in no need of a new constitution.
1918 Med. Rec. (N.Y.) 10 Aug. 238/2 This part of the veterinary collection stands much in need of extension.
2016 H. Jacobson Shylock is my Name xv. 155 D'Anton made a double-friend of every friend he had, expending more concern on them than most ever thought they stood in need of.
d. to be in need of: to have an urgent requirement or demand for (something). Cf. to stand in need at sense 6c(c).
ΚΠ
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) cvi. 10 Thai ware..in nede of saule fode.
1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys ii. f. xxxivv For in surety of saluacyon we be felowes wyth angellys: in nede of relyefe we be yet felowes wyth you.
1659 W. Montagu Shepheard's Paradise v. 170 Had I sooner known you for my sister Madam, I should not have been in need of this forgivenesse.
1684 E. Ravenscroft Dame Dobson v. ii. 69 My Sister practis'd the ungodly black Art;..and at last being in need of a Devil, she entreated the favour of me to serve her.
1723 A. Philips Humfrey iv. x. 58 A Mercy, Were You in need of it, He ne'er would grant.
1744 J. Harris Three Treat. i. 27 Is our Account still too loose, and in need of stricter Determination?
1793 tr. M. Turgot Refl. Formation & Distrib. Wealth §70. 78 The industrious man shares voluntarily the profit of his enterprize with the owner of the capital, who furnishes him with the funds he is in need of.
1806 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1807) 10 109 His owners are anxious to have his ears foxed; but we think he is more in need of cropping and docking.
1811 J. Austen Sense & Sensibility I. iv. 50 He understood that she was in need of a dwelling, and though the house he now offered her was merely a cottage, he assured her that every thing should be done to it which she might think necessary. View more context for this quotation
1897 H. W. Singer & W. Strang Etching 175 A ‘flat’ proof of a block as it comes from the photo-engraver generally shows itself to be in need of some touching up.
1904 Westm. Gaz. 3 Sept. 3/2 It appears that Ireland is in need of a satisfactory and distinctive national costume.
1943 F. Sargeson in Penguin New Writing 17 59 I shouted him a bob dinner and I could tell by the way he ate he was in need of a binder.
1995 Nursing Times 22 Mar. 50/3 If they became dangerous, we could call the emergency psychiatric team which would come and certify people in need of psychiatric treatment (rather like ‘sectioning’ in Britain).
†7. to have need: to be in difficulties or in want. Obsolete.In later use perhaps also a use of sense 6b with complement implied or understood.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > be poor [verb (intransitive)]
to have needOE
needa1300
to have mistera1400
to be low in the world1521
lack1523
pinch1549
to be beforehand (also behindhand) in (or with) the world1615
to feel the pinch1861
to feel the draught1925
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark ii. 25 Num quam legistis quid fecerit dauid quando necessitatem habuit et esuriit : ne leornade ge huæt dyde [dauid] ða ned hæfde & hyngerde.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 11 (MED) We sculen bliðeliche ȝiuen and leanen, wið-uten erðliche mede, alle ðe niede habbeð.
c1275 Lutel Soth Serm. (Calig.) 12 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 186 (MED) Schomeliche he uor-les þe blisse þat he hedde To ȝiuernesse and prude; none neode he nedde.
c1300 St. Mary Magdalen (Laud) 27 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 463 (MED) Large huy weren of heore metes to heom þat hadden neode.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 2206 (MED) Þe witti werwolf..whan þei hade nede, halp hem of mete.
c1400 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 411 (MED) If he willefuly begge, and haves no nede, he is a schrewid begger, reproved of God.
a1475 J. Fortescue Governance of Eng. (Laud) (1885) 116 (MED) It is a synne to gyve no meyte, drynke, clothynge, or other almes to them that haue nede.
a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 191 (MED) Alchymye..helpith a man when he hath nede.
a1550 in R. Dyboski Songs, Carols & Other Misc. Poems (1908) 129 He that hath nede, mwst blowe at the cole.
a1586 R. Maitland Evillis New-found Lawis in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS. (1919) I. clxxiii. 429 Ȝe that hes the lawe to leid..Helpe thame has neid.
c1646 in D. Forbes & C. Innes Acct. Familie Innes (1864) 237 Bot I loue to trye a frind befor I haue muche neid.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 318 They all had need, I as thou seest have none. View more context for this quotation
8.
a. The state or condition of requiring help or support; difficulty, distress. Frequently in hour (also time, etc.) of need: a time of trouble, emergency, or crisis. in need: requiring help or support.Occasionally in plural in early use.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > [noun] > difficult state of things > sudden, extreme, or emergency
needOE
needinga1400
exigentc1475
plunge1519
opportunity1526
push1563
dead lift1567
heft1587
exigence1588
exigency1601
emergent1620
lift1624
emergencya1631
emergencea1676
emergementa1734
amplush1827
crisis1848
situation1954
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > [noun] > instance or time of need
needOE
needinga1400
indigencec1416
pinch1489
indigency1651
the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > time of > a time of need
rainy dayc1580
time of need1596
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xv. 25 Ða clypode Moyses to Drihtne & sæde him ðæs folces neode.
OE Ælfric Homily (Cambr. Ii.4.6) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric (1967) I. 364 Soðan God, þe symle wile well, and gehyrð þa gebedu on his halgena neode.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 435 Þa lette..he vnirimed fole bi-ȝeoten wepnen & mete; muchel wes þa neode.
c1300 St. Brendan (Harl.) 84 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 222 (MED) Seint Brendan..wende aboute his monekes, & tuelue out he nom, Þat he triste to mest of alle whan eni neode him com.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 1763 Þe king basian hii bitraiede in is nede [v.r. nude].
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Psalms xxiv. 17 Tribulaciouns of myn herte ben multiplied; fro my nedis delyuere me.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 23 Priue help of þe Scottes he had at his nede.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xi. 28 (MED) Þow shalt fynde fortune þe faille at þi moste nede.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) xii. 286 At the nede the frende is knowen.
a1500 (?a1400) Morte Arthur (1903) 1706 (MED) Launcelot is..hardy knyght and bolde, And sythen and hym ned by-stode, Many A lande wholde with hym holde.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. Arthur of Brytayn (?1560) lxxiii. sig. Siii Whan nede is than a frende is proued.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1895) II. 17 He could, in tyme of neid, ather stap a trane or mak a trayne.
1633 G. Herbert Temple: Sacred Poems 31 He that forbears To suit and serve his need, Deserves his load.
1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. 64 I thank you for lending me a hand at my need . View more context for this quotation
1725 I. Watts Logick ii. iii. 319 And these Judgments..should be treasur'd up in the Mind, that we might have Recourse to them in Hours of Need.
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iv. 410 I want to lay in a stock of solace which shall not fail me in time of need.
1826 W. Scott Woodstock I. iii. 85 A short passage..secured at time of need by two oaken doors.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. I. v. 399 He fell back upon his Italian cunning, and it did not fail him in his need.
1864 R. Browning James Lee's Wife ii. iii God help you, sailors, at your need!
1926 G. Hunting Vicarion xiii. 222 She had come here to him that she might find a way to give of herself, her love, her loyalty, in the time of his need.
1938 Action Comics June 1 So was created..Superman! champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!
1998 Community Care 20 Apr. 34/1 (advt.) Our intention is to improve services to children in need and maintain children within their own families, where possible.
b. at (also †to) need: in time of trouble; when necessary or required.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > [phrase] > in an emergency
at (also to) needc1175
in a needc1225
at (also in, on, upon) a pinch1489
for a need1547
ATA1939
the world > action or operation > adversity > in adversity [phrase] > in time of adversity
at (also to) needc1175
in a needc1225
need-stead?c1450
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 12245 Ȝiff þu wære rædiȝ till. To nittenn itt att nede. Onn alle þa þatt haffdenn ned [etc.].
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 529 Brutus hefede gode cnihtes to neode.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 9 (MED) He was þe wicteste man at nede.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. 1772 (MED) They..soghten frendes ate nede.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 2402 Þat shulden comen on fresshe stede Hem to socoure at most nede.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) ii. l. 55 He drew a suerd at helpit him at neide.
a1500 (?a1400) Morte Arthur (1903) 85 Swerd and sheld were good at nede.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 107 He sall deliuer the at neid.
a1625 J. Fletcher Monsieur Thomas (1639) iii. i. sig. F4 Let rogues be staid that have no habitation... A friend at need you rogue is worth a million.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 260 Where each To other speedie aide might lend at need . View more context for this quotation
1698 W. Pope Fables 35 This Punishment is just, I denyd succour to my Friend at need.
1725 J. Glanvill tr. Horace in Poems 220 Or prove at Need so seasonably kind.
1749 B. Franklin Proposals rel. Educ. Youth in Papers (1961) III. 403 Besides the gaining a Skill which may serve him at Need, the Advantages to Health by often Bathing in cold Water during the Heat of the Summer, are so many.
1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel i. xxii. 23 Sir William of Deloraine, good at need.
1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country iv. 233 This power you hold for profit of myself And all the world at need.
1900 Atlantic Monthly July 59/2 What an adjustable mind he must have had, with..graceful moods of mirth or melancholy waiting to be summoned at need!
1994 R. Davies Cunning Man 458 A man with an extensive education who could, at need, compose what was professionally called ‘a think-piece’.
†c. with need: with difficulty, scarcely. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > [phrase] > with difficulty
of (also by, with) hardc1330
with needa1500
by (also with) the skin of one's teeth1560
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 152 (MED) The doloure is to me so stronge, that wyth nede y may my breth wyth-drawe.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 180 This Emperoure any officere that he had makyd with nethe he chaungyd but yf hit were for opyn falsnys.
9.
a. The state or condition of lacking or requiring some necessary thing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > [noun]
needOE
needfulnessa1400
necess?a1525
necessariness1552
requisiteness1566
necessitya1572
essence1605
essentialness1640
essentiality1646
necessitation1648
requirement1659
need-be1728
indispensability1793
indispensableness1833
indispensibleness1860
egence1865
requiredness1935
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > [noun]
tharf735
needOE
misterc1385
opportunity?a1475
suffrete1481
needing?a1513
scantc1550
want1551
necessitude1839
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xx. 194 Ne lufode he woruldlice æhta, for his neode ana, ac to dælenne eallum wædliendum.
OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1043 Eadsige arcebisceop..hine wel lærde, & to his agenre neode & ealles folces wel manude.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) Ded. l. 154 Icc hafe hemm wrohht tiss boc. To þeȝȝre sawle nede.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 215 (MED) Prest specð inne chirche of chirche neode.
a1350 (a1250) Harrowing of Hell (Harl.) (1907) 38 Þo ihesu heuede shed ys blod for oure neode vpon þe rod.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 471 Ȝif þurst and honger of golde come of kyndeliche nede.
?a1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. ii. pr. v. 85 Fulfille thyn nede after that it suffiseth to nature.
1482 Monk of Evesham 88 They that vsyn scarsly to her nede the godys that they haue.
a1500 St. Brendan's Confession (Lamb.) 402 in Geibun-Kenkyu (1968) 25 21 (MED) I wolde oþere men stiriden oþere in refreischynge of me if I were in þe same caas of nede.
1574 St. Avstens Manuell in Certaine Prayers S. Augustines Medit. sig. Niij Thou Lord..alwayes gathering, but not for any neede.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 629 We have also our Eevning and our Morn,..for change delectable, not need . View more context for this quotation
1681 in W. Mackay & G. S. Laing Rec. Inverness (1924) II. 297 For suplieing the present neid untill money come in.
1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 799 Some private purse Supplies his need with a usurious loan, To be refunded duly.
1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola II. vii. 70 The great need of her heart compelled her to strangle..every rising impulse of suspicion.
1957 W. R. Geddes Nine Dayak Nights (1961) xxxi He did not say that my need was greater than his, because that would have been manifestly untrue.
b. A state of destitution; lack of the means of subsistence or of basic necessities; extreme poverty, indigence.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > [noun]
waedlec888
wanspeedc893
wanea1100
wandrethc1175
miseasea1200
povertya1225
lowness?c1225
needc1225
orcostc1225
poorness?a1300
unwealtha1300
defaultc1300
porailc1325
straitnessa1340
poorhead1340
mischiefa1375
miseasetya1382
needinessa1382
misterc1385
indigencec1386
scarcitya1387
noughtc1400
scantnessc1400
necessity?1406
penurya1425
povertnessa1434
exilitya1439
wantc1450
scarcenessc1475
needinga1500
povertiesa1500
penurity?a1505
poortith?a1513
debility1525
tenuity1535
leanness1550
lack1555
Needham1577
inopy1581
pinching1587
dispurveyance1590
egency1600
macritude1623
penuriousness1630
indigency1631
needihood1648
necessitousness1650
egestuosity1656
straitened circumstancesa1766
unopulence1796
Queer Street1811
lowliness1834
breadlessness1860
unwealthiness1886
out-of-elbowness1890
secondary poverty1901
Short Street1920
c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (1973) 2395 Hwen se ha hit eauer doð in neode & in nowcin.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Deut. xxviii. 22 Smyte þe þe lord wiþ nede.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 21873 (MED) Hunger and qualm, and nede i-nogh In erth sal rise for mans wogh.
c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 384 Þe ȝifte which y haue made in offring..schal profite to þee..more þan if y schulde haue spende it aboute þe releuyng of þi neede.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 107 (MED) Ned, or pouert of þe place, axe þat þei be occupied to gedre frutis.
1526 Pylgrimage of Perfection (de Worde) f. 19v So you sholde be mercyfull to your poor neyghbour in his nede.
a1573 W. Lauder Minor Poems (1870) 34 Als weill in neid as in prosperitie.
1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. i. 70 Famine is in thy cheekes, Need and oppression starueth in thy eyes. View more context for this quotation
1604 E. Hake in E. Farr Sel. Poetry Reign James I (1848) 256 Few men brooke To helpe a man that is in need.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 55 Jove..Remov'd from Humane reach the chearful Fire..That studious Need might useful Arts explore. View more context for this quotation
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 129 These, from often being in need, and as often receiving an accidental supply, pass their lives between surfeiting and repining.
1847 B. Thorpe Yule-tide Stories (1888) 72 They therefore lived in great poverty, and as is but too often the case, when need crept in, love walked out.
1861 J. Barr Poems & Songs 66 Refusing to help a puir brother in need.
1918 W. Cather My Ántonia i. x. 84 Grandmother went on talking.., not admitting their stark need or her own remissness, until Jake arrived with the hamper.
1926 R. H. Tawney Relig. & Rise Capitalism i. 46 Clergy who lend money to persons in need, take their possessions in pawn, and receive profits beyond the capital sum lent, are to be deprived of their office.
1987 Lancaster Guardian 2 Oct. 7/2 It was absolute need which had forced the family into the position in order to keep them and their two young children together.
†10. In proverbial phrases. Obsolete.With need makes the old wife trot perhaps cf. sense 11c.
ΚΠ
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 638 (MED) Auorbisne is of olde iwrne Þat node makeþ old wif urne.
a1300 in Englische Studien (1900) 31 8 (MED) Neode makad heald wif eorne.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xx. 10 (MED) Nede ne hath no lawe.
c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 1672 (MED) Nede makes naked man rynne.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 206 (MED) Nede hath no lawe.
c1475 Proverbs (Rawl. D.328) in Mod. Philol. (1940) 38 124 (MED) Nede makyt a old wyfe to trotte.
c1500 Lyfe Roberte Deuyll 919 in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. (1864) I. 255 Alacke, thought Robert, nede hath no cure.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. x. sig. Ciiiv Nede hath no lawe, nede maketh her hither iet.
a1598 D. Fergusson Sc. Prov. (1641) sig. E4v True love kyths in time of need.
1655 in E. Nicholas Nicholas Papers (1892) II. 233 Need makes trott, but contempt makes vs run on the Pikes rather then moulder away.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 509. ¶6 I think, a Speculation upon..It is Need that makes the old Wife trot, would be very useful to the World.
II. Something necessary; a requirement.
11.
†a. A matter requiring action; a pressing or urgent piece of business; a duty. to do good need: to achieve something commendable or good. In later use chiefly in plural. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > [noun] > a duty or moral necessity
needOE
deedc1400
necessitya1500
office1534
work (also duty) of necessitya1602
incumbency?1608
remorsea1616
incumbence1684
call1704
commitment1837
calling1857
geis1965
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 164 Siððan nolde maurus of ðam mynstre faran, for nanre neode, butan he nyde sceolde.
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Oxf.) iii. iii. 160 Ne he on horses hricge cuman wolde, nemne hwilc mare nyd abædde.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 675 Ouðer for lauerdes neode, ouðer for haueleste, ouðer for hwilces cinnes oðer neod he ne muge þær cumon.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 137 (MED) To alle ðo nedes ðe mann hafð to donne, þanne is ðe hali mihte swiðe helpinde.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 388 (MED) Aȝte men boþ in worre..An oueruareþ fele wode [read þode] An doþ bi niȝte gode node.
c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 1103 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 138 (MED) For-to don þis grete neode, þe wiseste Men heo nome.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 8324 (MED) Þe cristine ost smot him out..& hopede do gode nede, ac bote lute worþ it nas.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. 12235 Þe messengers þat went þo nedis horsed þam on gode stedis.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) i. 254 Quhethir he his lordis neid suld let And pay fryst that he awcht & syne Do furth his lordis commandyne.
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 53 I haue ane secrete serwand..That me supportis of sic nedis.
†b. One's errands or business. Chiefly in plural. Scottish in later use. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > duties > [noun] > a duty or piece of business > errand
needOE
businessa1616
errand1642
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xx. 343 He wolde gan ymbe his neode forð.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 14698 Þa wes hit in ane stunden þat þe pape wolde wenden. þat he wolde [speden] an ane of his neoden.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 2530 (MED) Spede þe now on nedes þine.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 375 (MED) Owen..dwelled al his lyf tyme afterward in þe nedes of þe abbay of Ludensis.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 24827 (MED) Quen all his nedis wele war dun, þai dightid him his scipping son.
a1425 Rule St. Benet (Lansd.) (1902) 12 Lokys þat ye do wel, þat yure angel may do yure nedis to god.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 442 b/1 In his nedes or besynesse to werke trewely and wel.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) ii. x. 151 Hatit of the goddis, to all nedis onhabill.
1568 (a1500) Freiris Berwik 442 in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1930) IV. 274 I wait not gif ȝe ma ay cum hidder Quhen þat we want our neidis sic as this.
1822 J. Galt Sir Andrew Wylie I. xiii. 110 It would therefore, sir, be very obliging, if ye hae done your pleasure and needs, to gae quietly awa'.
1896 S. R. Crockett Grey Men vi He knew how to shut them up till we had done our needs on our foes.
c. euphemistic. Necessary bodily function, spec. evacuation of the bowels or bladder; an act of defecation or urination. In later use chiefly in plural in to do one's needs. Now English regional. rare after 16th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > defecation or urination > [noun]
needOE
necessary1440
needinga1500
bodily function1655
occasion1670
toileting1793
call1815
voiding1926
OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) cl. 192 Ealle þa biternysse ðe of þam geallan cymeþ heo ðurh ða gemænelican neode & ðurh spiwðan ut anydeþ.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) 938 (MED) He sat an gradde, Bihinde þe bure, among þe wede, Þar men goð to here neode.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 6338 (MED) Þe gadeling..Hudde him bineþe in þe dunge..Þo þe king þer to com is nede uor to do, Þe luþer þef..smot him þoru þe fondement.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 31 (MED) Þe man is zuo heui þat ne loueþ bote to ligge and resti and slepe; oþerhuil hy byeþ ynoȝ awaked to nyedes.
a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 182 Looke þat ye haue þe bason for chambur & also þe vrnalle redy at all howres when he wille clepe or calle: his nede performed, þe same receue agayn ye shalle.
1574 J. Baret Aluearie P 670 He is gone to the priuie or to dooe his needes.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy iii. iii. ii. 683 Shee shall not goe forth of his sight so much as to doe hir needs.
1764 D. Garrick Let. 5 Aug. (1963) II. 422 In Italy the people do their Needs,..but in England..they Ease themselves.
a1796 S. Pegge Two Coll. Derbicisms (1896) 47 Needs, as in ‘to do one's needs’, cacare.
1881 H. Smith & C. R. Smith Isle of Wight Words 23 I wants to goo and do my needs.
12.
a. A particular point or respect in which some necessity or want is present or felt; a thing lacking or wanted; a requirement.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > [noun] > a need or requirement
needOE
want1579
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xix. 333 Ealle ure neoda, ægðer ge gastlice ge lichamlice, þæron sind belocene.
c1175 ( Homily: Hist. Holy Rood-tree (Bodl. 343) (1894) 6 Eala, dauid, hwæt is þin neod swa mucel þet ðu þus ær cumen eart?
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 12965 Þe laferrd toc. To fraȝȝnenn whatt teȝȝ sohhtenn Forr þatt he wollde beldenn hemm. To spekenn þeȝȝre nede.
a1330 Sir Tristrem 846 (MED) Þi nedes tel þou me, Þine erand, what þou wold.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Rom. xii. 13 Loue with oute feynynge..comunynge to the nedis of seyntis.
c1450 tr. Secreta Secret. (Royal) 5 Y haue hastid me and ordeynyd me to make a book for the, the which shall conteyne alle thi nedes.
a1560 W. Kennedy Passioun of Christ in J. A. W. Bennett Devotional Pieces (1955) Adam..Wanderand in wa..his neidis to purches.
1589 J. White in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations 769 For the present and speedie supplie of certaine our knowen and apparant lackes, and needes..we all..have most earnestly intreated.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 404 The very streame of his life..must vppon a warranted neede, giue him a better proclamation. View more context for this quotation
a1716 O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. liii. 543 We ought to be content if we have now so much as will serve our present Needs.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion iii. 131 I..promptly seized Whate'er Abstraction furnished for my needs . View more context for this quotation
1874 J. A. Symonds Sketches Italy & Greece (1898) I. i. 3 Improved arts of life had freed men from servile subjection to daily needs.
1917 E. Wharton Summer vi. 70 Charity had only a dim understanding of her guardian's needs; but she knew he felt himself above the people among whom he lived.
1982 G. M. Fraser Flashman & Redskins 149 One pressing need would be money.
b. A feeling of want that provides a basis for behaviour or action; (Psychology) a motivational state resulting from such a feeling, a drive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > experimental psychology > stimulus-response > need as motivation > [noun]
need1929
1929 J. B. Miner tr. H. Piéron Princ. Exper. Psychol. iii. 54 These instincts are generally designated by a special name..which expresses in a measure the imperious character of the tendencies; we say that they are needs.
1935 K. Koffka Princ. Gestalt Psychol. viii. 329 But needs are..states of tension which persist until they are relieved.
1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited i. v. 95 His year of anarchy had filled a deep, interior need of his, the escape from reality.
1964 L. J. Bischof Interpreting Personality Theories ii. iii. 146 In studying the need structure of man, Murray found that he required criteria in order to establish that a need existed.
1988 M. Dibdin Ratking vi. 130 Blinded by my love and need I never looked at you closely enough.
†13. A time of necessity, an emergency.
a. at a need and variants: in an emergency or crisis. poetic in later use. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1101 Se cyng syddan scipa ut on sæ sende his broðer to dære & to lættinge, ac hi sume æft æt þære neode abruðon.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2502 Eȝȝþerr wass wiþþ oþerr mec. & god att alle nede.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1692 (MED) William wendut was þat oþer Þat hire ledde..Þat was with at alle nedes.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 35 He was boþe gode & wys..& right vnderstandyng, to help at alle nedis.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) ii. 231 He had thar, at that ned, Full feill that war douchty off deid.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) ix. 222 Bayarde, whiche shall maye bere vs all four at a nede.
c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) 755 Hit behoueth to helpe at thys nede.
1581 N. Woodes Conflict of Conscience iv. i I will do the best herein that I can, Yet go thou with me, to helpe at a neede.
1650 R. Heath Clarastella 51 A word wel plac't may serve one at a need.
a1821 J. Keats King Stephen i. iii, in Poet. Wks. (1906) 432 Is an honest yeoman's spear Of no use at a need? Take that.
1871 A. C. Swinburne Songs Before Sunrise 31 Have we not fingers to write, Lips to swear at a need?
b. in a need and variants: = at a need at sense 13a. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > [phrase] > in an emergency
at (also to) needc1175
in a needc1225
at (also in, on, upon) a pinch1489
for a need1547
ATA1939
the world > action or operation > adversity > in adversity [phrase] > in time of adversity
at (also to) needc1175
in a needc1225
need-stead?c1450
c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 652 (MED) Ha lokede up..& þus to crist cleopede: [N]e forleaf þu me nawt nu i þis nede, lauerd of liue.
c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall Select. Early Middle Eng. (1920) I. 219 Þet se..sucurede hem ine þa peril, þet us sucuri in ure niedes.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 3377 (MED) Ys scheld he takeþ in þat nede; launce ne kepede he non.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 2518 Alexander..Naytis him-selfe in ilke nede, & so his name rysis.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) x. l. 153 The layff was speris, full nobill in a neid.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 678 The kynge hym love feithfully, for in many a nede he hadde hym socoured.
c. for a need: at a pinch; in an extreme circumstance. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > [phrase] > in an emergency
at (also to) needc1175
in a needc1225
at (also in, on, upon) a pinch1489
for a need1547
ATA1939
1547 Bp. S. Gardiner Let. c1 July (19330 351 Suche a well as..had water ynoughe in yt to serve us and Germany also, for both partes, as your Grace speketh, and the thurd parte, for a nede.
1562 W. Turner Herball (1568) iii. 25 He maye for a nede occupye this herbe.
c1585 R. Browne Answere to Cartwright 47 For a neede, reading ministers may bee in the Churche in steade of preaching ministers.
1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 8 He..will for a need hang Gods Bible at the Devills girdle.
1662 M. W. Marriage-broaker v. i. 80 You see sir, I can rime too for a need.
1824 L. M. Child Hobomok ix. 83 Whosoever is willing to tolerate any false religion..that his own may be tolerated, will for a need hang God's Bible on the devil's girdle.
1876 C. Wells Joseph & Brethren iv. iv. 222 When not the bosom of the earth hath roots, The trees bear bark to serve us for a need.

Compounds

Attributive and other compounds are common in Old English, but do not overlap with the later compounds given here.
C1. General attributive (chiefly Psychology).
need-achievement n.
ΚΠ
1960 Jrnl. Educ. Sociol. 33 302 Whether it may not be need-achievement and occupational motivation which are the real influences here.
1995 Computers & Humanities 29 343/1 General Inquirer dictionaries have been used in alcoholism studies, need-achievement studies, humor studies, and many more.
need condition n.
ΚΠ
1960 N. Maier in B. Kaplan & S. Wapner Perspectives Psychol. Theory 153 Like all need conditions, social needs select goal-oriented behaviors.
need-disposition n.
ΚΠ
1951 T. Parsons et al. in T. Parsons & E. A. Shils Toward Gen. Theory Action i. i. 18 The child's development of a ‘personality’..is to be viewed as the establishment of a relatively specific, definite, and consistent system of need-dispositions.
1980 N. Abercrombie et al. Dominant Ideol. Thesis ii. 47 The cohesion of society (or of any social group or social unit) depends on the interpenetration of cultural patterns of general meaning, social institutions and need-dispositions at the personality level.
need pattern n.
ΚΠ
1947 G. Murphy Personality iii. xvi. 395 It would seem that mood or need patterns can intensify and enrich the world of images.
1964 Sociometry 27 121 Table 1 summarizes the need patterns in the self-friend pairs that yielded significant results.
need-push n.
ΚΠ
1951 E. C. Tolman in T. Parsons & E. A. Shils Toward Gen. Theory Action iii. iii. 308 Identification does involve..locomotion away from some other region of valenced activity because of the stronger need-push to get to the region of love and approval.
C2.
need-based adj. Economics (originally Indian English) needs-based (see Compounds 4).
ΚΠ
1968 A. Fonseca in Social Action 18 461 (title) Need-based wage for Industrial Workers.
1969 Pioneer (Lucknow) 13 Aug. 6/1 Mr. Bhogendra Jha [is] seeking restoration of jobs to all who struck for need-based wages to Central Government employees.
1990 Chron. Higher Educ. 19 Dec. a20/4 The pool of money for need-based scholarships was already woefully inadequate compared with the demand from disadvantaged students.
need-blind adj. U.S. not taking account of any (financial) need; (spec. of a university admissions policy) assessing applicants solely on their merits, without regard to their ability to pay for tuition.
ΚΠ
1982 N.Y. Times 16 Feb. b8/6 While Wesleyan is the first college to announce formal abandoning of its ‘need-blind’ admissions policy, others, including Holyoke and Cornell, are considering modifying such policies, at least as a last resort.
1993 Chicago Tribune 4 Jan. a11/4 Most colleges have abandoned need-blind admissions policies and are now basing admissions decisions on the family's ability to pay.
† need doer n. Obsolete a trader or merchant.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trader > [noun]
mongereOE
chapmanc890
haberdasher1311
need doera1382
handlera1398
unfreeman1445
occupier1509
taker-up1548
trafficker1560
pliers1565
copeman1566
trader1566
copemaster1579
couper1581
drover1585
negotiator1596
merchandiser1597
coper1609
dealer1611
commercer1632
market-maker1647
general dealer1709
negotianta1774
outfitter1829
man-
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xxiii. 8 Who þoȝte þis vp on tirum sum tyme crowned, whos nede doeris [a1425 L.V. marchauntis; L. negotiatores] princis, his marchaundis noble men of þe erþe?
† need-doing n. Obsolete (in plural) business, commerce.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > [noun]
mongingOE
cheapinga1000
cheapOE
chaffer?c1225
merchandisea1300
market-making1340
merchandyc1350
corseriec1380
chafferinga1382
need-doinga1382
changea1387
chapmanhoodc1386
cossery?a1400
bargaining1401
merchandisinga1425
merchandrya1450
intercourse1473
business1478
chapmanry1483
the feat of merchandisec1503
market1525
trade1549
marting1553
contractation1555
trading1556
merchantryc1560
marketing1561
mart1562
trafficking1570
contraction1582
tract1582
nundination1586
commerce1587
chafferya1599
negotiation1601
intertraffica1603
traffic1603
commercery1604
intertrading1606
correspondence1607
mercature1611
correspondency1613
coss?1635
negotiating1640
dealing1691
chapmanship1727
merchanting1883
intertrade1915
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xxiii. 18 His nede-doingis [a1425 L.V. marchaundies] & his meedis shul ben halewid to þe lord.
† need-rooted adj. Obsolete rare fixed by necessity.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > [adjective]
necessary?a1425
need-rooted1850
non-contingent1872
1850 T. T. Lynch Memorials Theophilus Trinal xii. 233 Need-rooted here on earth we are.
† need-sweat n. Obsolete a sweat caused by anxiety or distress.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > perspirations > [noun] > sweat
swotec897
need-sweat?c1225
sweata1400
dead-sweat1609
muck sweat1627
strigment1646
mador1650
breathing sweat1657
lather1660
dew1674
cold sweat1707
death sweat1725
perspiration1725
toil-drop1802
persp.1923
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 88 Se ful of anguise he wes. þet þilke ned swat [a1250 Nero ned swot] þet lichte of his licome aȝein þe angwisuse deað þet he schulde þolien. þet hit þuchte read blod.
C3. The plural form in compounds.
needs analysis n. (chiefly in educational or management theory) the systematic analysis of the particular needs of an individual or institution.
ΚΠ
1969 J. Argenti Managem. Techniques 175 Needs analysis, then, consists of systematically examining the requirements of each job and comparing these with the skills of the incumbent of, or an applicant for, the job.
1991 Appl. Linguistics 220 Applied linguists continue to look at theoretical and practical aspects of language learning and teaching along the lines characterizing models of needs analysis, and to neglect the learners' rights dimension.
needs-test n. = means test n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > research > [noun] > into financial resources
means test1925
needs-test1932
1932 Ann. Reg. 1931 i. iv. 102 By the regulations issued by the Ministry of Labour in October, the task of applying the ‘needs test’ to applicants for transitional benefit had been left to the Public Assistance Committees.
1940 Economist 29 June 1106/2 The chief objection is..that it introduces another needs test. It is now possible that in the same household there will be a means test for an unemployed member..and a means test for pensions of war.
1991 Jrnl. Higher Educ. 62 64 Eligibility for a Stafford Loan is determined by a needs test.
C4. In plural with past participles, forming adjectives with the sense ‘on or by the needs of a person or people’, as needs-based, etc.
ΚΠ
1971 Econ. Jrnl. 81 1043 The perennial arguments over ‘needs-based’ minimum wages are then examined.
1991 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 85 69/2 The restoration of a needs-driven (household-type) economy.
1994 Hispanic June 57/2 (advt.) We're looking for dynamic Sales Representatives who have..a commitment to the highest standards of client service and needs-based marketing.
1998 Educ. Rev. 12 i. 56/2 These ideas have lost any roots they ever had in the quality of teaching and learning, in the differentiated curriculum and in needs-directed funding.
2001 Herald (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 28 June Anyone from Scotland..can see the benefits, apart from the moral justification, of going for a needs-based assessment.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

† needn.2

Forms: Middle English need, Middle English neede.
Origin: Probably a borrowing from Middle Low German. Etymons: Middle Low German nēt, neit.
Etymology: Probably < Middle Low German nēt, neit (inflected nēd-, neid-) pin or nail used for riveting (German regional (Low German) Neet , Niet , Need rivet, bolt) or an unattested corresponding noun in Middle Dutch (compare Dutch niet (1599 in Kiliaan), neet rivet, staple), cognate with Middle High German niet , niete (German Niet , Niete rivet; probably > Swedish nit , Danish nitte ); compare the corresponding verbs Middle Dutch nieden to rivet, clinch, beat (Dutch nieten to staple), Middle Low German nēden , niden to rivet (German regional (Low German) neden ), Middle High German nieten to rivet, secure with nails (German nieten to rivet; compare Old High German biniotan , bihniotan to strike, fix), Old Icelandic hnjóða to rivet, clinch, Old Swedish niudha to strike, rivet, fasten; all ultimately < an ablaut variant of the same Germanic base as Old English hnossian to knock, tap, Old High German notōn , hnotōn to shake, Middle High German notten to move back and forth < the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek κνύειν to scratch and Byzantine Greek κνύθος little thorn. Compare need-nail v., need-nail n.It is uncertain whether quot. 1323 reflects the English word or an Anglo-Norman parallel borrowing. The following examples probably show a parallel post-classical Latin neda:1337–9 in B. Sandahl Middle Eng. Sea Terms (1951) I. 49 Et de x s. iij d. solutis pro ciij lb. ferri operati in seme et nede..Et de ix s. vj d. ob. solutis pro ixc et di. ferr' vocat' seme et nede pro batell' factura vocat' Cok.1410 Exchequer Accts. (Public Rec. Office) 44/11 Nede, alias dict wegges.1417 Foreign Accts. 8 Henry V (Public Rec. Office) D/1 In diuersis Clenchys et nedis et aliis clauis vocatis Werknaille.
Obsolete.
A metal plate on which the point of a clinch-nail is beaten down in the building of boats; = rove n.1
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > shipbuilding and repairing > [noun] > shipbuilding > nails, rivets bolts > plate or ring as base for rivet
rove1298
need1323
1323 in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1915) 30 680 (MED) Gages des carpenters des Niefs gages des feures ship bord, sem, Need, clowes, et autres necessaries achatez pur la dite Nief.
1461 Foreign Accts. 8 Henry V (Public Rec. Office) D/1 (MED) Seeme [and] neede.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online December 2020).

† needv.1

Forms: Old English nædan (Mercian), Old English neadan (rare), Old English nedan (non-West Saxon), Old English nidan, Old English niedan, Old English nydan, late Old English neodan, early Middle English mede (transmission error), early Middle English net (3rd singular present indicative), early Middle English nett (3rd singular present indicative), early Middle English niede, Middle English nedd, Middle English nede, Middle English neede. Past tense Old English nidde, Old English nydde, Old English–early Middle English nedde, early Middle English neodde, Middle English nedede, Middle English nedid, Middle English nedidde. Past participle Old English geneded, Old English nyded, early Middle English inedd, Middle English neded, Middle English nedid, Middle English nedyd, Middle English needid, Middle English yneded.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian nēda to compel, Middle Dutch noden , nooden , noyen to compel (Dutch (rare) nooden to compel), Middle Low German noden to force, coerce, Old High German nōten , ginōten , nōtten , etc., to force, coerce, impel (Middle High German nœten , nōten to force, German †nöten to force, compel), Old Icelandic neyða , Danish nøde to compel, force, constrain, Gothic nauþjan to exert compulsion upon < the same Germanic base as need n.1In Old English the prefixed form genīedan is also attested. Compare also the parallel Old English Class II weak verbs nēadian, genēadian, in the same senses; compare Old Saxon nōdian. Compare also Dutch noodigen to compel, Old High German nōtegōn (Middle High German nōtegen, nōtigen, German nötigen), Old Icelandic nauðga, Swedish nödga. In modern Dutch noodigen is much more commonly used than nooden and in German nötigen has become established as the regular modern form.
Obsolete.
1. transitive. To exercise constraint or compulsion upon; to harass or trouble (a person).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > obedience > compulsion > compel [verb (transitive)]
needeOE
straita1340
pressa1393
afforcea1400
stressa1400
coactc1400
coarctc1400
strainc1400
compulse?a1475
cohert1475
oppress1523
compel1526
forcec1540
to tie to the stake1544
urge1576
adact1615
duressa1626
coerce1659
railroad1889
to twist the tail1895
steamroll1900
steamroller1912
shanghai1919
bulldozer1945
shotguna1961
eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter: Canticles & Hymns (1965) vii. 29 (21) Ipsi in zelo conpulerunt me : hie in hatheortnisse neddun mec.
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xvi. 35 Gif ge nu [gesawan hwelce mus þæt wære] hla[ford ofer oðre mys & sette] him [domas, &] nedde [hie æfter] gafole.
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Luke xxiv. 29 Coegerunt illum dicentes mane nobiscum : nedon..hine cuoeðendo wuna usig mið.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 15 (MED) Gif we nulleð gan to bote and iswican, hit is riht þet me us nede and isegge þet sceamie.
a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 144 Nedeð ðe ðe deuel noȝt.
c1450 C. d'Orleans Poems (1941) 136 (MED) What y say ye take in no dispite, Syn nede me nedith euery dele, So vnportable are my paynesfele.
1496 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (de Worde) i. xix. 53/1 His..werkes be not neded ne arted by the planetes.
2. transitive. To constrain, compel, or force to a thing. Also with till.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > obedience > compulsion > compel [verb (transitive)] > to or into an action or state
needeOE
driveOE
strainc1374
halec1400
plunge?c1400
thrust14..
pulla1425
put1425
compel1541
violent?1551
forcec1592
necessitate1629
oblige1632
dragoon1689
press1733
coercea1853
thirl1871
steamroller1959
arm-twist1964
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xli. 145 Ac he us ne ned no þy hraðor to þæm þæt we nede scylen good don.
OE Blickling Homilies 213 Þa nyddon hine hys yldran toðæm þæt he sceolde..wæpnum onfon.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 1114 Þa neodde he him to þam biscoprice of Hrofeceastre.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 9 (MED) Þeih me niede me to ðan aðe, me ne het me noht to forsweriȝen.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 27992 (MED) If þou, man, nedd þe euer þar-till At force womman agayn hir will..It es to tell for dedli sin.
c1400 Bk. to Mother (Bodl.) 129 Fro consuetude he was neded to synne.
?c1430 (c1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 265 Holy writt old and newe & crist lif..neden hem to mekenesse & wilful traueile.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 1819 (MED) The saȝes of ȝour souerayn..Nedis me to slike notis as I had neuer etlid.
3. transitive. To require or constrain (a person) to do something. Chiefly in passive.Frequently in Wyclif.
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxiii. 216 Far nu geond wegas and hegas, and nyd hi inn to farenne.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 179 Ȝif he [sc. the lord] net him to ȝiuene, þat beoð strengðe and refloc.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 39 Þenne is hit inedd aȝein forte climben uppart.
a1300 ( Declaration of Indulgences, Crediton, Devon in Britannica: M. Förster zum Sechzigsten Geburtstage (1929) 115 Me bi-fore hy-lomp þe reue quene on heuene marie and nedede me to scrifte go to þan holiapopa leon.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xlvii. 22 To whome & serteyn metes of þe comoun beernes weren ȝouen, & þerfor þei ben not nedyd to sellen here possessyouns.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 16596 (MED) Him þai can to nede, At tak þe tan end o þe tre.
a1425 (?c1384) J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 358 Aftir þat þis prelate ordeyneþ ben sugettis nedid for to do.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 320 Tho..whiche were nedid..forto lyue in thilk maner.
a1500 (a1422) in C. Monro Lett. Margaret of Anjou (1863) 26 (MED) J. B..by fals lesinges..is neded to holde youre and god is Seintwary of Westminster ffor drede of fals prisonnement and gratter wronges.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

needv.2

Brit. /niːd/, U.S. /nid/
Forms: Old English neodige (singular present subjunctive), Middle English ned, Middle English nedd, Middle English neode, Middle English neyd, Middle English neyde, Middle English–1600s nede, Middle English–1600s neede, Middle English– need, 1500s neade, 1600s nead, 1600s nied; Scottish pre-1700 nead, pre-1700 neade, pre-1700 ned, pre-1700 nede, pre-1700 neide, pre-1700 neyd, pre-1700 nid, pre-1700 nide, pre-1700 nied, pre-1700 1700s neid, pre-1700 1700s– need. 2nd singular present indicative

α. Middle English nedist, late Middle English–1600s needst, 1500s nedest, 1500s– needest, 1600s– need'st; Scottish pre-1700 nedes, pre-1700 nedis.

β. late Middle English ned, 1500s nede, 1500s neede, 1600s– need.

3rd singular present indicative

α. Old English neodað, Middle English nededeþ (transmission error), Middle English nedeþ, Middle English nediȝt, Middle English nedis, Middle English nedithe, Middle English neduþ, Middle English neodes, Middle English neodeþ, Middle English neodeð, Middle English neþes (transmission error), Middle English nudeþ, Middle English–1500s nedeth, late Middle English–1600s nedes, late Middle English– needeth, 1500s–1600s needes, 1500s– needs; Scottish pre-1700 nedes, pre-1700 neidis, pre-1700 neids.

β. Middle English–1500s nede, Middle English– need, 1500s neede; Scottish pre-1700 ned, pre-1700 nede, pre-1700 neid.

Past tense

α. Middle English nedde, Middle English nedede, Middle English nedid, Middle English nedide, Middle English nedit, Middle English nedut, Middle English neodede, Middle English neodyde, Middle English–1500s neded, 1500s– needed; Scottish pre-1700 neidit; English regional (northern and midlands) 1800s– ned.

β. 1500s– need; Scottish pre-1700 neid.

Past participle Middle English nedid, Middle English–1500s neded, 1500s– needed; English regional (northern and midlands) 1800s– ned, 1800s– ned'n. With negative particle affixed 1700s–1800s need'nt (regional and nonstandard), 1700s– needn't Brit. /ˈniːdnt/, U.S. /ˈnidnt/; English regional 1800s needent, 1800s neednt, 1800s neesn't (Devon), 1800s– niddent (past tense), 1800s– nist'nt (south-western); U.S. regional (in sense 10c(a)) 1800s– neen, 1900s– ne'en, 1900s– neene.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: need n.1
Etymology: < need n.1Uses of need n.1 predicatively with or without following infinitive and in the phrase have need to (see need n.1 4a) are well attested in Old English, and may have encouraged the development of verbal uses of need . Gradual loss of tharf v. with infinitive in both personal and impersonal uses may also have been a factor in the development of need in such uses. There are two major developments in the verb's history. The first is the transition from impersonal constructions, where a clause identifies what is necessary and the person or thing having the need is either unexpressed or expressed by the indirect object, to largely personal verb constructions, where the subject expresses the person or thing that has the need. The second development is a gradual coming together of syntactic and morphological characteristics that in modern English are typical of modal auxiliaries. The syntactic characteristics which are modal-like are twofold. (i) The occurrence of the bare infinitive alongside the to -infinitive in the complementary verb. (ii) The preservation from Middle English, chiefly in sense 10, of verb phrase structure not employing do as operator: the chief environments concerned are negation with not , the inversion of subject and verb in clause types such as questions, and the ellipsis of the complementary verb (e.g. I need not go , need I go? , need I? ). These survive alongside the regularly developed modern English structure employing do as operator (e.g. I do not need to go , do I need to go? , do I (need to go)? ). The main morphological feature in which need comes to conform to the modal verb model is lack of inflection in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present and in the past tense (β), occurring alongside the regular forms (α). These uninflected forms began to emerge in the 15th cent. A secondary development, arising from (ii) above partly in combination with this, is the emergence (first attested in the 18th cent.) of negative forms with cliticized -n't (γ). All three modal-like characteristics (bare infinitive, verb phrase structure without do , and lack of inflection) vary with the alternative characteristics independently throughout the word's history, and have only in recent modern English tended to coincide, chiefly in sense 10, to such an extent that it is possible to regard the modal and non-modal uses of need as being in complementary distribution. Variation between the bare infinitive and the to -infinitive is employed as a structural subdivision at a number of senses below (see senses 1, 5, and 10). At sense 10 further subdivisions have been made in order to show the main distinctions in verb phrase structure conditioned by negative, affirmative, and interrogative contexts. All groups of quotations in which there is significant variation between regular inflection and lack of inflection in the present 2nd and 3rd singular and the past are divided into α and β paragraphs. The gradual decay of impersonal constructions with need and indirect object (denoting the person or thing affected) coincides with a more general tendency among impersonal verb constructions in later Middle English, and probably results in large part from the reduction in the number of contrasts in the personal pronoun system and the lack of case marking in a noun standing in this position. The unmarked 2nd and 3rd person singular present may result in part from the occurrence of need in positions where in Middle English or to a lesser extent early modern English the subjunctive (lacking the inflection of the indicative) would be used. In relation to this note also the following Older Scots examples (in sense 10) with unmarked 3rd person plural where an inflection would be usual (see further Dict. Older Sc. Tongue s.v.):1428 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 15 That the smal baronis & fre tenandis nede nocht to cum to parliamentis.c1570 J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1830) 89 That slaiers be sey neid not compeir personallie. The notable feature of the history of need , namely the co-existence of ‘modal’ and ‘non-modal’ morphological and syntactic characteristics as variants over an extended period in identical semantic function, is to some extent paralleled in dare v.1 and ought v. The partial attraction of need to the ‘modal auxiliary’ class is perhaps partly explained by the lack in the late Middle English or early modern English period of a simple means of expressing absence of deontic or dynamic necessity corresponding to positive must . The negation in sentences of the type you must not go or wood must not be used in the construction of such a building qualifies the following infinitive and expresses necessity not to do something (see must v.1 7). Hence need comes to be employed to express the absence of necessity to do something. Deontic and dynamic modal uses of need (both positive and negative) are found throughout the history of the verb and reflect semantic aspects of all the main constructions in which the verb is found, both personal and impersonal. Epistemic modality, expressing the (speaker's attitude towards the) status of the truth of a proposition (compare must v.1 8) occurs only in sense 11, expressing the absence of epistemic necessity, although compare the modal phrase had need s.v. need n.1 5b which frequently expresses positive epistemic modality. The U.S. regional form neen with negative particle affixed is sometimes found written together with the following to of the infinitive as neenter. In Old English the prefixed form genēodian is also attested, used impersonally with experiencer in the dative and the thing required in the genitive:OE Monasteriales Indicia (1996) xxvii. 26 Gyf þe smælre candelle geneodige þonne blaw þu on þinum scyte fingre.OE Monasteriales Indicia (1996) xxx. 28 Ðonne þe martirlogium geneodie.OE Monasteriales Indicia (1996) xcvii. 40 Gyf þe wæteres geneodige.
I. To be necessary.
* Expressing simple necessity.
1. impersonal or with non-referential it as subject.
a. (it) needs: it is needful or necessary. Frequently with clause as complement. In Old English also with genitive of the thing required.
†(a) intransitive. With that-clause. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > be necessary [verb (intransitive)] > it is necessary
(it) needsOE
tharfc1175
(it) misters1424
it needsa1425
there needs?a1425
OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) 89 On cealdum eardum neodað [OE Wells is neod], þæt þæs reafes mare sy, on hleowfæstum læs. Ðæs abbodes foresceawunge sceal beon be þysum, hu ðæs neodige.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) 250 It nedeþ þat a gyste and a beme be longe, stronge, and grete.
1464 Let. in Ld. Clermont Wks. J. Fortescue (1869) I. 27 It shalle nede that the quene gate some notable and manly prince...welle garnysshed withe habilymentes of werre.
a1475 J. Fortescue Governance of Eng. (Laud) (1885) 143 (MED) It nedith þat it be delibered whether the kynge mey gyve such rewarde.
c1480 (a1400) St. Matthew 211 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 196 It nedyt þat he suld mak a tempil.
a1550 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Wemyss) v. 3723 Forthy it nedis that ressoune Thyne vnreullis habandoun.
†(b) intransitive. With clause understood. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 20 Ȝe muȝen seggen hit biforen & efter vchtsong anan ȝef swa neodeð.
1408–9 in J. Slater Early Scots Texts (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Edinb.) (1952) No. 67 For to make knawyn til al men & ony alqwhar it nedis.
1473 in C. Rogers Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879) I. 166 With wynnyn and gudyn of the lands quhareuer it nedis.
1503–4 in Hist. MSS Comm.: 10th Rep.: App. Pt. V: MSS Marquis of Ormonde &c. (1885) 324 in Parl. Papers (C. 4576-I) XLII. 1 The owners of all suche nettis shall repaire them when it nedith.
1512 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1857) III. 109 To big the mylne hous..and red the dame as it nedis.
1634 J. Canne Necessitie of Separation i. 24 I could produce many others of them..but it needs not.
1765 H. Walpole Castle of Otranto v ‘It needs not’..‘the horrors of these days..corroborate thy evidence’.
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. iv. 103 ‘I will not lift hand against him.’ ‘It needs not—send Louis Winkelman and a score of thy lances.’
1874 A. Trollope Phineas Redux I. xxvi. 216 ‘You had better send one of Garnett's people,’ said the duchess... ‘It will hardly need,’ said Madame Goesler.
(c) intransitive. With to-infinitive.
ΚΠ
c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 1746 It nedeth noght to pyne yow with the corde.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 6525 Hit nedeth nothyng to wond. Hit is a best founde in boke.
a1402 J. Trevisa tr. Dialogus Militem et Clericum (Harl.) 36 Ȝif any happe falliþ wherefore hit nediþ to make eny maner statute.
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 35 (MED) It nedeth not to tell ȝou the names of the cytees.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 320 (MED) That mannys lawe forbedith not..the seid endewing, nedith not to proue.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) vii. 167 Of Rowlande nedeth not to speke.
a1500 (a1450) Generides (Trin. Cambr.) 2893 (MED) It nedith not to make all this arraye.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 245 (MED) Hit nedyth to vse..hote mettys and moiste, as chykenys..culueres, good Swete wyne.
1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. xviii. 318 To seeke out many expositions of these woordes, it shall not neede.
1882 W. Besant All Sorts xlviii. 318 It needs not to tell what she said.
1912 Eng. Rev. Sept. 284 It does not need to take everything Lord Charles Beresford says without a grain of salt.
†(d) intransitive. With bare infinitive. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1390 G. Chaucer Miller's Tale 3599 Thow art so wys, it nedeth [v.rr. nedyth, nededeþ] thee nat teche.
?a1475 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Harl. 6579) i. xlix. f. 34 (MED) It nediþ nouȝt renne to Rome ne to Ierusalem for to seken Hym þere.
a1500 Partenay (Trin. Cambr.) 4982 Hyt nedith noght..more haue pensifnesse.
1865 W. G. Palgrave Narr. Journey through Arabia I. 112 Needs not say how lovely are the summer evenings.
b. what needs (it)?: what need is there (for someone to do something)?
†(a) intransitive. With to-infinitive (occasionally bare infinitive). Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xvii. 30 (MED) What neded it þanne a newe lawe to bigynne?
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 138v (MED) For what nedeþ to put a mundificatiue in a wounde þer as is no quiture..y wote neuer.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. bii*v Quhat nedis said spinagrus sic notis to nevin.
a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) iv. Prol. 172 Quhat nedis avant ȝou of ȝour wykkytnes?
1537 W. Turner tr. Urbanus Regius Compar. Olde Learnynge & Newe sig. G.viiv Yf it had ben sufficient vnto vs, to haue holy men, excellyng both in witte and in learninge to rule the church or congregation: what nede it to orden the canon of scripture.
1551 R. Record Pathway to Knowl. Ep. King What needeth to alledge one sentence of him?
1571 tr. G. Buchanan Detect. Marie Quene of Scottes (1727) 7 How loftily and disdaynfully scho behauit hirself to the King, what neid it be reheirsit?
1598 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 3 Last Bks. vi. i. 92 So to fill vp bookes both backe and side What needs it? Are there not enow beside.
1641 J. Milton Of Reformation 69 Seeke onely Vertue, not to extend your Limits; for what needs?
a1764 C. Churchill Farewell in Poems (1933) II. 399 To men of sense what needs it to unfold, And tell a tale which they must know untold?
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xii. 182 But what needs tell the story, told too oft,..of heart-strings rent and broken.
(b) intransitive. With dependent finite clause or without complement. Chiefly Scottish in later use.
ΚΠ
c1660 S. Rutherford Christs Napkin 7 As if one speared at John who is he that sits upon the throne? He would have answered, what needs you spear?
1777 Whole Proc. Jockey & Maggy (rev. ed.) iv. 26 What needs ye speak so loud?
1821 R. H. Dana Paul Felton in Poems & Prose Writings (1833) 342 D'ye hear me, and will not answer?—Nay, nay, what needs it? This tells me, though it speaks not.
1826 A. Balfour Highland Mary I. 211 What needs I tell you what you ken?
1860 Ld. Lytton Lucile ii. iii. 239 Ah, cannot two share it [sc. solitude]? What needs it for this?—The same thought in both hearts,—be it sorrow or bliss!
1884 R. F. Hardy Glenairlie 85 What needs ye hae put yersel' in sic a kippage?
1893 E. C. Dowson Pierrot of Minute 37 Pierrot. To complete the plan, Nothing is necessary save a fan. The Lady. Cool is the night, what needs it?
1962 in Sc. National Dict. VI. 400/3 Fat needs ye aye leave the door open?
2. impersonal or with non-referential it or there as subject.
†a. there needs: there is need for (a thing or person). Obsolete.
(a) intransitive. With to-infinitive clause as further complement. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > insufficiency > [verb (transitive)] > fall short of > fall short by (so much)
lackc1460
want1560
there needsa1687
c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 3091 I trowe ther nedeth litel sermonyng To make yow assente to this thyng.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage i. iv. 15 There needeth some Herald to shew the true petigree.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1691) ix. 111 There needs but one Million to pay the said Rents.
?1734 P. Shaw Chem. Lect. xii. sig. P6v There needs no particular Experiment to shew the business of the Fine-Stiller.
1776 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. iii. §8 105 A Duke's son gets a seat in the House of Commons. There needs no more to make him the very model of an Athenian cobbler.
1839 T. De Quincey Lake Reminiscences in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 4/2 There needed no Roman nomenclator to tell me that this he..was Wordsworth.
(b) intransitive. Without further complement. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > be necessary [verb (intransitive)] > it is necessary
(it) needsOE
tharfc1175
(it) misters1424
it needsa1425
there needs?a1425
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 148 (MED) In þes two cases þe medicyne of Egrymoine sufficeþ not, but þer nedeþ cauterie oþer corrosiue medicyne.
?1440 A. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 26 I hope þer shal nede no gret trete be-twyxe hym.
a1525 Bk. Chess l. 1120 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 117 Quhar a king Is present..Thar nedis no luftennand ner about.
a1556 T. Cranmer Let. 28 July in Misc. Writings (1846) 393 I know your lordship's discretion is such that there need no such monition in this behalf.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. vii. 104 There needs no such apologie. View more context for this quotation
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. xiii. 219 If such market or fair be on the same day with mine, it is prima facie a nusance to mine, and there needs no proof of it.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab iii. 35 There needeth not the hell that bigots frame.
1879 H. Spencer Data of Ethics viii. §50. 135 There needs great subordination to men who command.
b. intransitive. what needs——?: what need is there for (something)? Now archaic.
ΚΠ
c1387–95 G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. 849 As ye han herd, what nedeth [v.r. needet] wordes mo.
a1450–1500 ( Libel Eng. Policy (1926) 598 (MED) What nedeth a garlande whyche is made of ivye Shewe a taverne wynelesse?
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iii. l. 28 Lord Persye said, ‘Quhat nedis wordis mor?’
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. xxvi. f. xxxvijv What neded this wast?
1537 W. Turner tr. Urbanus Regius Compar. Olde Learnynge & Newe sig. E.viiv What nede many wordes.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cxv What shoulde this obligation nede?
1594 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis (new ed.) sig. Cij Strucke dead at first, what needs a second striking?
1605 W. Alexander Alexandræan Trag. ii. i. 122 But ah! what needs contention at this time, To cloud a matter that was made so cleare?
1632 P. Massinger & N. Field Fatall Dowry iii. sig. G3 Pish, pish, what needs this my Lord? If I bee knowne none such, how vainly, you Do cast away good counsaile?
1662 E. Stillingfleet Origines Sacræ ii. iii. §7 Was this a duty before these miracles, or no? if it was, what need miracles to confirm it?
1692 A. Pitcairne Assembly (1817) i. iii. 21 What needs all this pother about Mr. Salathiel's going back?
a1713 A. Pitcairne Assembly (1722) ii. iii. 40 What needs a' this Din about an Act of Parliament; cannot we make an Act and Declaration of Assembly rescinding and annulling that Act of Parliament, and there's an End o't.
1760 C. Johnstone Chrysal II. xv. 265 Why look you, owner, what needs all these words? if so be, you order us, we must put about to be sure, for the ship is your's.
1819 W. Scott Legend of Montrose vi, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. III. 269 ‘What needs all this?’ said Allan, starting up.
1841 R. E. Landor Faith's Fraud ii. i. 121 What needs this everlasting prate of payment? Hast not mine obligation for so much? Let that suffice.
1876 J. Todhunter Laurella 49 He shrank aside As from a serpent. ‘No, no, no! What needs This talk? My loss is nothing.’
1900 ‘H. Haliburton’ Horace in Homespun (new ed.) 3 What needs a' this grievin' For griefs we dinna feel?
c. intransitive. it needs: there is need for (a thing or (occasionally) person) in order to achieve some object (usually stated as infinitive, or for with clause). Also formerly intransitive with of.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > be necessary [verb (intransitive)] > it is necessary
(it) needsOE
tharfc1175
(it) misters1424
it needsa1425
there needs?a1425
a1425 Comm. in H. R. Bramley Rolle's Psalter (1884) 1 (MED) Bot for the psalmes bene ful derke..Hit nedeth exposicyon.
?a1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. ii. pr. v. 33 It nedeth of ful manye helpynges to kepyn the diversite of precious ostelementz.
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 85v (MED) Late þe pacient be fulfillid wiþ figis, notis, garlek, and Rewe..drunken wiþ good wiyn, and it nediþ noon oþir medicyne.
1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie clxxxv. 1151 The apparantnes..was so great, that it needed not any great reason to conceive it.
1786 T. Jefferson Let. 13 Aug. in Papers (1954) X. 245 But it needs but half an eye to see, when among them, that the foundation is laid in their dispositions, for the establishment of a despotism.
1839 Times 19 Oct. It needed not, nevertheless, the published correspondence of such a hero to convince us.
1853 M. Arnold Scholar Gipsy in Poems (new ed.) 204 It needs happy moments for this skill.
1905 Baroness Orczy Scarlet Pimpernel xxx It needed all of Chauvelin's nerve and presence of mind not to give way to a useless and undignified access of rage.
1992 Car Feb. 62/3 The controls are heavier. It needs a stout stab of the left leg to sink the clutch.
†3. intransitive. Of a thing: to be needful or necessary. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > be necessary [verb (intransitive)]
needa1398
worth1424
requirea1500
fault1502
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 71v In a good spouse & wyfe nedeþ þese condiciouns.
c1450 (a1425) Metrical Paraphr. Old Test. (Selden) 9873 (MED) So had he all þat nedes enogh, and wanted none.
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 60v (MED) Take a boond of what lenkþe þat nediþ & make a marke in þe myddil of þe boond.
a1500 Walter of Henley's Husbandry (Sloane) (1890) 44 (MED) Paraventur ye shall fynde more corne..sowen vpon your lande þen nedithe.
1526 Pylgrimage of Perfection (de Worde) f. 163 That he forme & pronounce euery lettre & syllable..with more diligence than nedeth.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 21v Stoppynge of heades..wyth leade..shall not nede now.
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. vi. 60 Where vnderstanding therefore needeth, in those thinges reason is the director of mans will.
1615 J. Day Festivals 63 That in this place..are meant the Dead, is a Note perhaps that needes not.
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 25 Waste no more then needs in Slabs.
1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 99 But little learning needs in noble bloud.
1846 R. Browning Soul's Trag. in Bells & Pomegranates No. VIII i Lest you, even more than needs, embitter Our parting.
** †Expressing necessity as regards a person, a purpose, etc. Obsolete.
4. Of a thing: to be needful or necessary (to a person or purpose).
a. intransitive. With to and noun phrase of the person affected or with a personal pronoun as indirect object. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > be necessary to or for a person [verb (transitive)]
behove1154
need?c1225
(it) needs onea1387
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 303 Nan ancre noch neome bute gnedeliche þet to hire neodeð.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 307 Habbeð ase monie as ow to neodeð [a1250 Titus nedes] tobedde & to rugge.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 1919 (MED) Mete & al maner þing þat hem mister neded, þe werwolf..wiȝtli hem brouȝt.
c1390 (?c1350) Joseph of Arimathie (1871) l. 163 (MED) Þow schalt haue liueraunce of In and al þat þe neodes.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 75 In champiouns and hard trauailing men..kynde hete is þe more, and þerfore hym nediþ moche mete and drink.
c1400 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Trin. Cambr. R.3.14) (1960) A. xi. 190 (MED) Seken out þe seke & sende hem þat hem nediþ.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. vi. 20 Canstow seruen..oþer..Eggen oþer harwen..Oþer eny kyns craft þat to the comune nudeþ?
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 376 He had all thynge that hym neded.
c1475 Wisdom (Folger) (1969) 662 (MED) We haue þat nedyt vs, so thryve I.
a1500 (a1450) Generides (Trin. Cambr.) 4400 (MED) Furth thei went; them nede non other gide.
a1540 (c1460) G. Hay tr. Bk. King Alexander 3310 Bot in the ost thame nedis furriouris.
1618 ( Inventory in E. Peacock Eng. Church Furnit. (1866) 181 Item: one vestment paled of clothe of sylke for priest, decon, & subdecon, and a Corpax of diuerse sylk and all that nedes to a priest to sing and minister for double feastes.
1691 Humble Addr. Publicans in Andros Tracts (1869) II. 248 What need us so many Instances abroad?
b. intransitive. With to and a noun phrase expressing the end or purpose. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 399 Al þat nedeþ to þe lyue Þat lond bryngeþ forþ ful ryue.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 211v Þe firste tweyne nedeþ to generacioun of þe plaunte.
1421 in Archæol. Jrnl. (1850) 7 57 (MED) John And Robert schall fynde And make cariage of sand als mekyll has yaim nedes to ye warke abownsaid.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) iii. 692 Thai..maid redy..all that nedyt to schipfar.
?1490 tr. Gouernayle of Helthe sig. Aii For thy it nedeth hym that he haue that nedeth hym to his lyfe wythoute trauayle and pencyfull.
1496 Treat. Fysshynge wyth Angle in Bk. St. Albans (rev. ed.) sig. hijv It shall be also fyne a tawney colour as nedyth to our purpoos.
†5. impersonal or with non-referential it as subject. With person affected as indirect object (usually a personal pronoun, occasionally a noun).
a. (it) needs one: it is necessary for one (to do something). Obsolete.
(a) intransitive. With to-infinitive. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > be necessary to or for a person [verb (transitive)]
behove1154
need?c1225
(it) needs onea1387
α.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 5 (MED) He made his servauntes riche, þat hem nedede [v.r. neodede] to greve no man.
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 85/5 (MED) It nediþ þe to take kepe to alle þese þingis.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xi. 282 Þanne nedeth noȝte ȝow to take syluer for masses þat ȝe syngen.
c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 454 (MED) Hym nedes wele to be warre of excesse.
a1450 Rule St. Benet (Vesp.) (1902) 405 (MED) Þus nedes þam-self for to be clere, Þat oþer folk sall tech & lere.
1480 in Acts Lords of Council Civil Causes (1839) I. 72/2 It suld nocht hafe nedit the said Alexander to lede ony proces of the said land.
1533 T. More Wks. (1557) 1024 Me nedith neuer to loke more for the matter.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 11309 Hit nedis vs another way now for to laite, And proffer hom pes.
1579 E. K. in E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Argt. Little I hope, needeth me at large to discourse the first Originall of Æglogues.
1803 in W. Scott Minstrelsy Sc. Border (ed. 2) III. 15 In north of England I was born: (It needed him to lie.)
β. ?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 354 Late hym vse suppynge metes þat hym nede noght to chewe.c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lxxxi. 242 It nede not you to demaunde for ye are lyke to knowe it to soone.
(b) intransitive. With bare infinitive. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 948 (MED) Me nedes fro hire presence withdrawe me prively.
c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 471 It neediþ not contemplatijf lijf of þe iiije maner go bifore his actijf lijf answering to hym.
a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Harl. 4866) (1897) 3841 (MED) It nedeth him take heede..Þat that vice him combre not.
1597 Bp. J. Hall Defiance to Enuy in Virgidemiarum: 1st 3 Bks. sig. A4 Needs me then hope, or doth me need mis-dread.
b. intransitive. (it) needs one (without complementary clause): it is necessary for one. Also with that-clause. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > need [verb (intransitive)]
needc1175
(it) needs onec1390
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. xi. 50 Þat lord..Þat þus parteþ with þe pore A parcel whon him neodeþ.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 18 (MED) Ech man schulde redely have mete whan him nedide.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 261 Yf thee nede In londis salt that treen or graynys growe, Thou must anoon on hervest plaunte.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 218 The fader has the sone jn his powar, and may sell him..at his lyking quhen him nedis.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Gouernaunce of Princis (1993) i. 62 A man, yat..makis him subiect, quhare him nedit nocht till his alde jnymyes.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) xxii. 490 I can well aske brede whan me nedeth.
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 48 And quhen it nedis ȝow, onone note baith ther stranthis.
1508 Golagros & Gawane (Chepman & Myllar) sig. bii To note quhen hym nedis.
c1580 ( tr. Bk. Alexander (1927) III. ii. 5614 That the gude King, ay quhen vs nedes, Hechtis and geuis forouttin let.
c. intransitive. (it) needs one of: one has need of. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1390 G. Chaucer Nun's Priest's Tale 4024 Of poynaunt sauce hir neded neuer a deel.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. 3364 The nedeth of non other leche.
d. what needs one——?: what need is there for one to do something? Obsolete (chiefly Scottish in later use).
(a) intransitive. With to-infinitive. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
α.
c1395 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 2000 Sith ye han so holy meke a wyf, What nedeth yow, Thomas, to maken stryf?
a1475 in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell Reliquiæ Antiquæ (1845) I. 74 (MED) What nedyth a man to spar the ȝate Whan ther ys nothyng yn the weye?
c1480 (a1400) St. Clement 359 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 383 Quhat nedis ws fadir hym to cal?
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Eccl. ii. 15 What nedeth me then to laboure eny more for wyszdome?
1550 H. Latimer Moste Faithfull Serm. before Kynges Maiestye sig. Dviv What shuld nede me to geue a peny to haue my bylles warranted?
1552 Abp. J. Hamilton Catech. iv. f. cciv Quhat nedit our saluiour to eik yir wordis?
a1586 Peblis to Play in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS (1919) I. 178 Quhat neidis ȝow to maik it sua.
β. c1480 (a1400) St. Adrian 197 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 277 Quhat ned þe to begyne þe thing þat þu mycht nocht bring til ending??1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. xii. sig. l What nede me to bryng in octauia, syster vnto augustus, for an example?
(b) intransitive. With bare infinitive. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
α.
c1395 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 1955 What nedeth yow diverse freres seche?
c1530 A. Barclay Egloges ii. sig. Biij When man hath inough what nedeth him haue more?
1597 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 1st 3 Bks. ii. ii. 30 What needes me care for any bookish skill.
1768 A. Ross Fortunate Shepherdess i. 63 What needs me heal't, na, na, it winna dee, An' gin I sud, I wad na now be free.
1874 A. C. Swinburne Bothwell i. ii. 50 What needs us count and cast offences up That all we know of, how all these have one head, The hateful head of unstanched misbelief?
β. a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xvi. 189 What nede you be abast?1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. July 195 What neede hem caren for their flocks, Theyr boyes can looke to those.1794 W. J. Mickle Poems 40 Her end accomplishd, and her hopes at stay, What need her now, she recks, one smyle bestow.
II. To require something.
†6. intransitive (with prepositional phrase as complement). To have need or be in need (of something).
a. With to. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > need [verb (intransitive)]
needc1175
(it) needs onec1390
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 6161 Fremmde menn..Þatt nedenn to þin hellpe.
c1450 Treat. Fishing in J. McDonald et al. Origins of Angling (1963) 135 (MED) Yf a man lak leches or medicens, he schall make iij thynges hys medicens or leches, and he schall neuer neyd to mo.
b. With of. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > need [verb (transitive)] > have need of or to do
needa1398
misterc1450
necessitya1616
to be stuck up for1860
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 208v Trees, herbes, and gras..nedeþ of hete of þe sonne to make digestioun in þe humour.
a1500 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Wellcome) f. 28 (MED) Hote apostume is of blod and nedith of lesse repercussiue and lase resolutiue.
a1505 R. Henryson Robene & Makyne 88 in Poems (1981) 178 My scheip to morne quhill houris nyne Will neid of no keping.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) ci. 329 Yf ye nede of ony ayde, take my horne and blowe it.
c1580 ( tr. Bk. Alexander (1925) I. i. 1314 Thai sall neid, I wis, of leching!
1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xiv. xii. 213 If at any time the common wealth should neede of counsell.
7. To require (something) essential or very important (rather than merely desirable).
a. transitive. With a thing or person as object. Also (colloquial) in negative contexts: to be able to cope with, to be willing to put up with (something undesirable).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > need [verb (transitive)]
behovec890
to have mister ofc1300
needa1382
requirec1392
misterc1450
lack1530
note1710
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xxxiii. 15 Þis one onelich Y nede: þat I fynde grace in þi siȝt lord myn.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 181 (MED) Sucche humours..neden mollificatiue medicines.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 81 (MED) Men nedyn euer þe counseil of God.
?a1500 (?1458) in J. H. Parker Some Acct. Domest. Archit. (1859) III. ii. 42 (MED) He gaf hem stonys i nowhe into the werkys ende, Also mony as they nedid.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 643/2 And shall we nede an habyt or a cope.
1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 768 I trust quod he we shall not neede it.
1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 548 I neid nane airar myne erand nor none of the day.
1602 in J. D. Marwick Rec. Convent. Royal Burghs Scotl. (1870) II. 144 Ony vther thing the schip neidis.
a1628 J. Preston New Covenant (1634) 68 There is nothing that you neede, nothing that you want, but it shall be supplyed.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 617 Other Creatures all day long Rove idle unimploid, and less need rest. View more context for this quotation
a1771 T. Gray Agrippina in Poems (1775) 128 The message needs no comment.
1795 T. Jefferson Let. 29 Apr. in Writings (1984) 1028 A manufacture of nails, which needs little or no capital.
1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) vii. 63 Pickwick needed no second invitation.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest IV. xx. 607 Such a deed needed a worse man than was needed for any of William's earlier deeds.
1970 G. Scott-Heron Vulture v. 216 ‘Just knock it,’ he said. ‘I don't need it!’
1978 M. Amis Success vi. 138 I feel marvellous now; that work-out was just what I needed.
2001 C. Glazebrook Madolescents 108 Jesus, I so don't need this. Clingy people get right up my nostrils.
b. transitive. With verbal noun as object.
ΚΠ
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 24 Bi him þe membris..schulden ben y-teied, þe whiche þat neden hangynge.
c1450 Hegge Plays in J. M. Manly Specimens Pre-Shaksperean Drama (1897) I. 229 Therfore I adde and sey ‘full of grace,’ for so ful of grace was nevyr non bore. Ȝett who hath grace, he nadyth kepyng sore.
a1513 W. Dunbar Flyting in Poems (1998) I. 207 Oft for ane caus thy burdclaith neidis no spredding.
1638 J. Ford Fancies iii. 40 Why? hee's not come to the honour of a Beard yet, he needs no shaving.
1681 J. Dryden Spanish Fryar (Mermaid) iii. ii Young appetites are sharp, and seldom need twice bidding to such a banquet.
1766 Compl. Farmer at Surveying These squares and long squares need no protracting.
1844 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit l. 398 That needs no accounting for.
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. ix. 228 Her feelings are concentrated in one—pride; and that needs humbling.
1899 A. Birrell Coll. Ess. II. 67 The story of the poet's life does not need telling.
1915 W. Cather Song of Lark vi. iii. 406 If she wasn't disturbed, she needed no watching.
1916 G. B. Shaw Pygmalion ii. 107 Her hair needs washing rather badly.
1928 E. O'Neill Strange Interlude iv. 116 The collegiate clothes are no longer natty, they need pressing and look too big for him.
1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet i. iii. 67 It would need painting again this year; he must see to that.
1968 L. Durrell Tunc 137 This again did not need saying now.
1984 M. Amis Money 128 Only when you are soothed do you realise how much you needed soothing.
c. transitive. Scottish, Irish English (northern), and U.S. regional (chiefly Midland). With participial adjective as complement.
ΚΠ
1841 Jamieson's Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (ed. 2) II. 144/1 Need-made-up, applied to any thing hastily prepared, as immediately necessary.]
1923 in Sc. National Dict. (1965) VI. 401/1 This lock needs sortit. The hail house needs guttit.
1954 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) III. 768/2 Does my hair need combed?
1959 Amer. Speech 34 69 Many western Pennsylvanians..often declare that the house needs painted or the television needs fixed or the children need spanked.
1964 R. Bonnar Stewartie ii. iv The first driver on the list really did not need wakened.
1989 Ulster Folklife 35 95 Modern Ulster-Scottish idioms..‘the car needs washed’.
1992 N. Kincaid Crossing Blood 13 He hoped to goodness that Mother and Walter got back home before Benny woke up from his nap and needed fed.
1996 Glasgow Herald 31 May 16.1 (advt.) Mamas & Papas carry pram, unused, but needs cleaned, £50.
8.
a. transitive. To require (a person) to do something; to require (a thing) to do or be something.In quot. a1500 reflexive.
ΚΠ
a1500 God of Hewine 197 Thow ned the to fyght..With youre flesche, and with the fende.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xxiv. f. 314v He needed no iudge to goe vpon him: for no man could ever thinke any other worthy of greater punishment, then he thought himselfe.
1623 P. Massinger Duke of Millaine ii. i. sig. E The Duke stands now on his owne legs, and needs No nurse to leade him.
1701 Ballad Pref. sig. A1 Tho' the Design of this Publication is of so commendable a Nature in its self, as to need nothing to be said in favour of it; yet [etc.].
1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights I. v. 95 They were calmer, and did not need me to console them.
1865 E. C. Gaskell Cousin Phillis i. 30 I chafed inwardly, thinking that my father needed no one to stand up for him.
1891 Contemp. Rev. 59 195 One needs things to be a little more clearly defined before one can say Yea or Nay.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover ii. 15 He needed Connie to be there, to assure him he existed at all.
1951 K. Tynan Let. 10 June (1994) iii. 180 Actresses like this deserve and need plays to be written for them.
1985 Personal Computer World Feb. 162/1 It also frequently needs sections to be written in low-level language due to its restricted areas of application.
1992 Playboy Dec. 111/3 She needs you to wire her $500.
2011 A. Oade Working in Adversarial Relationships 190 He needs them to employ him and work constructively with him.
b. To require or have need (that something be done).
(a) transitive. With object and complementary past participle.
ΚΠ
1884 Proc. 11th National Conf. Charities & Correction (U.S.) 80 Our free employment bureau is a reliable agency for..those who need work done.
a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. xiv. 241 Any dirty work you may need done you can hire done.
1946 Liberty 25 May 60/3 I'll need some crop dusting done in the spring.
1978 B. Shaw Terminal Velocity (1991) 54 Now the situation has changed and Mr Morlacher needs some hard-nosing done on his behalf—and there's nobody to do it for him.
2007 G. D. Schmidt Wednesday Wars 63 You don't need anything done around here?
(b) transitive. With object and complementary present participle.
ΚΠ
1954 J. Symons Narrowing Circle xxxii. 145 If I'd behaved in the way you suggest I should need my head examining.
1967 New Scientist 9 Feb. 331/1 Battery-powered pacemakers normally need their batteries replacing after no more than 2–3 years, needing a surgical operation each time.
1990 Read World of Thrush Green 100 With any luck, it should not need much doing to it over the next few years.
1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! xxx. 275 We entrust you with Jason's care and surprise, surprise you made a mess of it. We must need our heads examining, giving you custody of anything—never mind an infant.
2010 L. Wade Posh 17 It probably won't need anything doing to it at all, I won't need to touch anything.
†III. To be in need. Obsolete.
9. intransitive. Of a person: to be in need or want; to be lacking in some respect.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > be poor [verb (intransitive)]
to have needOE
needa1300
to have mistera1400
to be low in the world1521
lack1523
pinch1549
to be beforehand (also behindhand) in (or with) the world1615
to feel the pinch1861
to feel the draught1925
a1300 Passion our Lord 15 in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 37 (MED) He wes swyþe of-longed to his fader blysse, Nouht for þan þat he nedde in his godcunnesse.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Ecclus. xl. 29 Sone, in þe tyme of þi lijf ne nede þou: betere is to dien þan to neden.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 7562 (MED) Ageyn al meschef and al skarscite, Whan þei nede, he myȝt her socour be.
c1450 (a1425) Metrical Paraphr. Old Test. (Selden) 413 (MED) I sall the wysch, wher þou sall wune, To haue enogh and neuer nede.
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) II. 157 It is ane auld saying in Scotland, I may weill sie my freind neid bot I will not sie him bleid.
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd ii. 251 If Nature need not, Or God support Nature without repast Though needing. View more context for this quotation
1801 E. Helme St. Margaret's Cave IV. xiv. 283 Money was sent him..to distribute among such of his poor neighbours as needed.
1857 C. Heavysege Saul 104 How poor thou art to him who truly needs.
IV. Expressing necessity, obligation, etc.
10. transitive. To be under a necessity or obligation (esp. one felt to be self-imposed) to do or to be something. Also, of something non-personal: to be required to do or to be something in order to fulfil a purpose.In the †2nd and 3rd person singular present tense and in the past tense (usually where past time has been established by the context) the uninflected (β) form need occurs in variation with the inflected forms, particularly where the context is negative. In modern use this is rare with the to-infinitive.
a. With to-infinitive (formerly also †for to).
(a) In a negative clause (without do-construction) or a context with negative implications.Typical contexts include clauses with near-negative adverbs such as but, only, and hardly, as, if, and than clauses, and statements expecting or implying a negative response.The simple negative with to-infinitive is relatively uncommon in modern use.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > [verb (intransitive)]
haveeOE
oweOE
byrc1175
needc1395
busc1400
had needa1425
behovec1475
fall1681
note1789
ought1816
oughta1840
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > be necessary [verb (intransitive)] > be under necessity to do something
tharfc890
needc1395
mister1445
require1559
note1789
α.
c1395 G. Chaucer Wife of Bath's Tale 274 No wys man nedeth for to wedde.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 2692 (MED) Þer is no pref but erly by þe morwe, Of swiche as nede no bewte to borwe.
?a1460 Paston Lett. (1897) I. 552 He ne nedid not to have sent no spyes.
1480 R. Cely Let. 15 May in Cely Lett. (1975) 76 Howr father thynkys he neddys not to be large of spendyng, remembyryng aullethyng.
a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 105 (MED) Ye nede not to care if ye folow my sawe.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lxi. 212 Ye nede not to speke of any golde or syluer.
1611 Bible (King James) 2 Tim. ii. 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. View more context for this quotation
a1667 Bp. J. Taylor Serm. (1673) 54 Though Christ knew it, and therefore needed not to ask.
1673 J. Dryden Assignation iii. iv. 24 We need only to be there before them.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis xii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 584 Long hast thou known, nor need I to record The wanton sallies of my wand'ring Lord.
1719 A. Bedford Ser. Remonstr. 28 But I need not to transcribe any more.
1733 A. Pope Ess. Man ii. 202 Vice..to be hated, needs but to be seen.
1827 R. Southey Hist. Peninsular War II. 630 He needed not to have undertaken an arduous march of 260 miles.
1853 E. C. Gaskell Ruth III. vi. 197 You need not to speak to me—I know.
1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone (1989) xvi. 129 She saw..that she needed not to fear me.
1893 A. Bierce Can Such Things Be? vii He to whom the portentous conspiracy of night and solitude in the heart of a great forest is not an unknown experience needs not to be told what another world it all is.
1931 V. Woolf Waves 126 Thank Heaven, I need not to be alone.
1994 S. Pinker Lang. Instinct iii. 59 Wintu speakers need not to bother with tense.
2011 N.Y. Times Mag. 30 Oct. 24/1 They need only to access the deep part of the brain that controls that storytelling instinct.
β. 1428 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 35 Swa that na man nede til haife assouerans of vthir bot the Kingis pece.?1500 Euyll Tongues sig. A.iv He that can kepe his tonge and beware Laude vnto hym shall euer encrease And where that euer he go he nede not to care For he is sure of reste and pease.a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1926) I. 124 And pay sa hie ransone that man on force neid to honour & luf him oure all thing.1577 W. Fulke Confut. Doctr. Purgatory 148 That he neede not to haue any other man to aunswere for him.1591 J. Phillips Comm. Hatton (1881) A.4b The right of might need not to stand in awe.1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) 24 Your Farmer..need not to be Booke-wise.c1680 E. Hickeringill Hist. Whiggism in Wks. (1716) I. i. 3 Nor shall he go, nor need he to go to any Justice of the Peace.a1692 R. Sanders Disc. Angels (1701) Pref. A2b So that a man need to travel but a very short Stage, before he comes to a Pause, where he may rest himself.1711 J. Swift Corr. 4 Jan. (1963) I. 204 Mr. Secretary St. John..told me from Mr. Harley, that I need not to be in Pain about the First-Fruits.1771 Hist. Sir William Harrington II. xxix. 9 My stooping need not to have disturbed you.1816 J. Scott Paris Revisited i. 13 They stumbled, and panted, and pushed, under a load which was heavier than it need to have been.1874 Internat. Rev. Jan. 8 He himself need not to be known in a transaction, which one moment will finish in a nook of his library, or a recess of his office.
(b) In an affirmative clause and in the negative (with do).Apparently rare between the mid 17th and early 19th centuries, but common in modern use.
ΚΠ
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 102v A good phisician nediþ to loke wel a-boute and be ful ware.
a1450 Rule St. Benet (Vesp.) (1902) 1285 Men þat er seke & sore Nedes for to haue medcyns.
1534 T. More Wks. (1557) sig. E15 We nede to talk to theim.
1651 Bp. J. Taylor Golden Grove: Summer xxvi. 338 But while they talk as if they did not need to live strictly, many of them live so strictly as if they did not beleeve so foolishly.
1834 H. Martineau Moral Many Fables ii. 50 The capitalists do not need to combine when labour superabounds.
1842 R. I. Wilberforce Rutilius & Lucius 116 They need to be taught..how vain are those objects.
1868 ‘Capt. Crawley’ Billiards for Beginners v. 59 The rest needs to be held tightly in the left hand.
1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country ii. 70 Man worked here Once on a time; here needs again to work.
1890 Dublin Rev. 24 236 Our readers do not need to be told who Father Faber was.
1914 Brit. Mus. Guide Processes of Engraving 52 A copper plate needs to be inked between each impression.
1929 G. K. Chesterton Thing 133 One does not need to be a pacifist to think that gunpowder need hardly go on being useful on quite such a grand scale.
1963 S. Plath Bell Jar ii. 21 The water needs to be very hot, so hot you can barely stand putting your foot in it.
1987 P. Lomas Limits of Interpretation vii. 80 Psychotherapists work on the assumption that something has gone wrong, which needs to be understood and healed.
2000 R. J. Evans Entertainment xiii. 186 I need to express to Jason my deep understanding of his problems, you know?
b. With implied infinitive taken from the context. Now rare.
ΚΠ
c1440 S. Scrope tr. C. de Pisan Epist. of Othea (St. John's Cambr.) (1970) 89 Also þe fable may be noted namely for þoo þat makiþ greete strif and neded [c1450 Longleat nedith] not.
1555 J. Heywood Two Hundred Epigrammes with Thyrde sig. A.vv Proue thy frend er thou nede [1546 haue nede].
1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. 917/1 Doubting that thing, that in good faith yee need not.
1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. ii. iii. sig. O3 We are often more unhappy than we need.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 137. ⁋1 Some use Ten Times more Words than they need.
1869 R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone I. iii. 33 Our two pads..began to nose about and crop, sniffing more than they need.
1875 G. MacDonald Malcolm II. x. 152 ‘Do you know how to manage a sail boat?’ ‘I wad need, my lord.’
1942 J. M. Keynes Note 10 Sept. in Coll. Writings (1979) XXIII. 250 It is better not to melt quick assets into cash before we need.
c. transitive. With bare infinitive.In modern use chiefly in non-affirmative contexts, i.e. in negative clauses, with near-negative adverbs such as but, only, and hardly, in as, if, or than clauses, in statements expecting or implying a negative response, or in interrogative clauses; also with only (usually immediately following the verb).
(a) In a negative clause or a context with negative implications.In modern use the 3rd person singular inflected form is less common than the uninflected (β) form.
ΚΠ
α.
a1500 tr. A. Chartier Quadrilogue (Rawl.) (1974) 236 (MED) Nede nat thei putte away their felliship to live sengelly for their profight.
1515 in W. Fraser Douglas Bk. (1885) IV. 70 And als we be in na syk danger at we neyd leyf the cuntre.
1576 A. Fleming tr. P. Manutius in Panoplie Epist. 325 You neede not doubt of their vncerteintie.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iii. ii. 188 I see a man heere needs not liue by shifts. View more context for this quotation
1633 W. Struther True Happines 49 If we had merite to deserve it, we needed not Suit it of God.
1641 J. Milton Of Reformation 52 He that is but meanly read in our Chronicles needs not be instructed.
1656 Ld. Orrery Parthenissa V. iii. iv. 237 I hope I shall not need employ them to winne another.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1691) vii. 103 A Man needs spend but a twentieth part less.
1708 Maxwell Mem. II. 124 Wee need not be jealoused by our freinds.
1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. III. liii. 154 This incident..needed be no surprise to him.
1855 Ld. Tennyson Maud xxiii. ix, in Maud & Other Poems 80 Who knows..Whether I need have fled?
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 370 I need hardly ask again.
1877 Daily News 10 Nov. 6/1 To be strong, France needs not be battlesome.
1920 A. Carnegie Autobiogr. viii. 114 If we truly care for others we need not be anxious about their feelings for us.
1930 M. Beerbohm Let. 17 Dec. (1988) 178 If he seldom goes to the Athm, he needs but write to the Secretary, who will enter his name for him as your seconder.
1991 What Personal Computer Dec. 19/3 It's a flat panel display with touch screen and stylus modes, so you never need touch a keyboard again.
β. 1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) vii. l. 414 The woman..Cawkit ilk ȝett that thai neid nocht gang by.a1500 (a1450) tr. Secreta Secret. (Ashm. 396) (1977) 62 Who eteth euery mornyng 7 dragmes of radissh, bake, wele sweted, he nede not fere no sikenesse of flewme neyther govt.?1515 Hyckescorner (de Worde) 871 A newe name thou nede none haue.?1548 J. Bale Comedy Thre Lawes Nature iv. sig. Evj Hysselfe maye do that, he nede commaunde non other.a1593 C. Marlowe Hero & Leander (1598) ii. 19 Wide open stood the doore, hee need not clime.1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) 22 Let him at the first time doe his worke so well, as that he need not go ouer it the second time.a1682 Sir T. Browne Let. to Friend (1690) 4 To make an end of all things on Earth..he need but put out the Sun.1699 E. Ward London Spy II. i. 13 Let her but think of her Tower Pin-Cushion, and she need not fear Conception.1704 A. Fletcher Acct. Conversat. 9 I know a very wise man that believed that if a man were permitted to make all the Ballads, he need not care who should make the Laws of a Nation.1728 R. Morris Ess. Anc. Archit. 90 How prejudicial such Proceedings are..need not be defin'd.a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iii. 249 Nor yet need he be too secure against all damage to his own sweet person.1778 F. Burney Evelina II. ii. 14 You needn't trouble yourself to make a ninny of me, neither.1816 J. Austen Emma ii Mr. Weston, who had been a widower so long..need not spend a single evening in the year alone if he did not like it.1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby v. 35 You needn't hurry yourself.1862 A. Trollope Orley Farm II. vii. 51 He..had been assured that he need regard no woman as too high for his aspirations.1894 E. F. Benson Dodo Wonders xii. 197 She made up the fire and got her French book, which she need not begin reading till she felt disposed.1915 R. Frost Let. 11 Nov. (1964) 17 He needn't go calling himself sticky names like Gayheart in public.1921 D. H. Lawrence Women in Love (new ed.) xxx. 510 It was a relief to her to be acknowledged extraordinary. Then she need not fret about the common standards.1936 V. A. Demant Christian Polity xi. 192 In regard to..Oceania..mention need only be made of..the effigies of chiefs among the Marquesans.1950 E. H. Gombrich Story of Art xxv. 379 There was one thing to be said for the ‘good old days’—no artist need ask himself why he had come into the world at all.1993 Guardian 23 Oct. (Weekend Suppl.) 42/4 Stock-making needn't be the labour-intensive grind described in French cookbooks.1997 N.Y. Times 16 Nov. i. 32/3 In baseball, for example, is there any rule saying that a second baseman need only be in the neighborhood of second base while middle-manning a double play?
(b) In an interrogative clause.
ΚΠ
1575 W. Stevenson Gammer Gurtons Nedle v. ii. 225 What deuil nede he be groping so depe in goodwife Chats hens nest?
1623 W. Sclater Quæstion of Tythes 161 Neede you, A man so skilled in Gratian, bee catechized in Canonisme?
1674 H. Hickman Hist. Quinq-articularis (ed. 2) Postscr. 232 What need I contend about by-passages relating to the Recantation.
1737 Gentleman's Mag. May 307/2 Need I the currant sing, or goosberry praise, Prepar'd in tarts which artful females raise?
1856 G. Henderson Pop. Rhymes Berwick 14 Need I mention ony mae..O' the honest men o' the day.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 121 Need we hire the herald, or shall I proclaim the result?
1951 G. Greene End of Affair v. ii. 182 ‘And now can we get back to E. M. Forster?’ ‘Need we?’ I asked.
1985 M. Atwood Handwaid's Tale (1988) xv. xlvi. 386 Need I remind you that this was the age of the R-strain syphilis.
1992 Independent 23 Apr. 9/1 Need she have given such an early warning of her intention to defend the essentials of her bequest?
(c) In an affirmative clause. rare.
ΚΠ
1818 J. Bentham Church-of-Englandism 389 The office might need be revived.
1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman ii. 65 A man need be very young and pretty foolish too to be excused for such conduct.
1905 L. Cassella Dyeing of Wool 139 The usual quantity of bichrome need be used for afterchroming.
1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 June 650/5 What proved vexing about it, it needs be said, was not anything unfair in the administration of the awards.
11. With bare infinitive. In the negative, with epistemic force: not to be certain to, not to be required by logic or evidence to (corresponding to the affirmative must v.1 8).Only in modal-like use, with uninflected (β) 3rd person singular form.
ΚΠ
1843 ‘G. Eliot’ in J. W. Cross George Eliot's Life (1885) I. 124 We need not be idle in imparting all that is pure and lovely to children whose minds are unbespoken.
1874 A. Trollope Phineas Redux I. xxxv. 292 You must be able to show that a metaphorical scuttling of a ship must necessarily be a disgraceful act. You see how he at once retreats behind the fact that it need not be so.
1906 J. Conrad Mirror of Sea xxi. 106 Damocles has seen the sword suspended by a hair over his head, and though a good man need not be made less valuable by such a knowledge, the feast shall not henceforth have the same flavour.
1916 A. S. Neill Dominie's Log iii. 50 The tale of Captain Dodds and the pirate (from Reade's novel, Hard Cash... An excerpt need not be uninteresting.)
1960 Encounter Oct. 10/1 The average rate of profit..need not be lower in a high-investment than a high-consumption economy.
1994 D. Rushkoff Cyberia ii. v. 59 As explained by morphic resonance, the traits need not have been passed on genetically.
12. Scottish. With to-infinitive, expressing the desirability (or not) of a course of action: it (he, etc.) had better (not).
ΚΠ
1857 Misty Morning (2nd Thousand) 156 The like o' that wadna need tae be happenin' every day.
1890 Trans. Banffshire Field Club 57 He winna need t' be there a' nicht.
1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song iii. 198 Clouds were racing it up from the North and Ewan said they'd not need to loiter long.
1960 Huntly Express 28 Oct. 2 Ye'll need tae haud that stanes farrer into the side o' the road.
1982 Eng. World-Wide 3 10 You need to ask permission off the farmer.
1982 Eng. World-Wide 3 11 You'll need to come back about five past eight.

Phrases

transitive. Originally U.S. In colloquial phrases ironically, implying that something is completely unnecessary or unwanted.
P1. who needs——? (esp. in who needs it?) [after Yiddish ver darf es?] .
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > useless [phrase] > useless or superfluous
who needs it?1950
1950 A. H. Gross tr. I. B. Singer Family Moskat 118 What's the point of going on painting? Who needs it?
1960 Mademoiselle Jan. 34/2 Popular idiom deals best with racial prejudice: ‘Who needs it?’
1963 TV Times 11 Jan. 8 It was so easy to say: ‘Education? Who needs it?’
1968 Melody Maker 23 Nov. 11/3 They envision themselves wearing berets..and crawling about the rubble, throwing Molotov cocktails. ‘But who needs Che Guevara? It's not like that.’
1988 Independent 12 Nov. 5/5 There is..no danger of somebody getting a punch in the mouth. And who needs that?
P2. to need (something) like a hole in the head [after Yiddish tsu darfn vi a lokh in kop] (see hole n. Phrases) and variants.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > be disadvantageous [verb (intransitive)]
disavailc1425
unprofit?1541
disconduce1619
to need (something) like a hole in the head1951
1951 in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 29/2 A smart operator needs a dame like he needs a hole in the head.
1968 M. Woodhouse Rock Baby xvii. 164 A twenty-two-year-old bomb disposal expert? I needed a twenty-two-year-old bomb disposal expert like I needed four more thumbs and a teen-age brain surgeon.
1973 R. Hayes Hungarian Game xxxi. 185 I needed a cat like I needed a nervous breakdown.
1990 Daily Star 20 Mar. 19 If Labour are ever to be re-elected, Neil Kinnock needs Anthony Wedgewood-Benn like a 9mm bullet in his left ear.
P3. (that's) all one needs [after Yiddish nor dos feylt mir] .
ΚΠ
1962 Amer. Speech 37 200 (note) The related ironic translations ‘I need it very badly’.., ‘That's all I need’ (Nor dos feylt mir)..are also increasingly turning up in conversation and in communications media.
1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xi. 217 ‘My God, it's the pigs,’ said the hunt saboteuse disgustedly. ‘That was all we needed.’
1982 S. Cooper Black Fire ix. 175 All I need is another fuddy-duddy engineer!
1991 G. Slovo Betrayal viii. 57 That's all I need, Rebecca thought.
P4. the last thing one needs.
ΚΠ
1968 ‘J. R. Macdonald’ Instant Enemy xxx. 188 The last thing needed was the kind of shoot-out in which innocent people could get hurt.
1989 M. Rockland Bliss Case iii. 106 I would steel myself to resist Sidney by saying the last thing I needed was someone like Sidney in my life.
1995 New Yorker 27 Mar. 68/3 The last thing our political culture needs is more opportunities for people to take umbrage. By making the question of who gets what job a matter of public policy, affirmative action opens it up to politics.

Derivatives

ˈneeded adj. required, necessary (frequently as the second element in compounds).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > condition of being necessary > need or want > [adjective] > needed or required
required1540
postulated1860
needed1887
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) v. i. 34 If you refuse your ayde In this so neuer-needed helpe. View more context for this quotation
1755 M. Masters Familiar Lett. & Poems 305 From his [sc. the Sun's] detecting Beams each prowling Beast, Runs to his Den, and takes the needed Rest.
1785 T. Dwight Conquest of Canäan ii. 51 Where, where shall Gibeon find the needed aid?
1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 1 Dec. 11/1 It is to be hoped that a needed lesson will not lose force.
1891 Daily News 31 Oct. 6/3 When rich men..are appealed to for needed help.
1987 G. Turner Sea & Summer 205 Kovacs was the needed love and mine the humiliation of knowing it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

needadv.

Brit. /niːd/, U.S. /nid/
Forms: Old English nide, Old English niede, Old English niode, Old English nyde, Old English–early Middle English neode, Old English–Middle English neade, Old English (non-West Saxon)–1500s nede, Middle English ned, Middle English– need, 1600s neede; also Scottish pre-1700 ned, pre-1700 nede, pre-1700 neid, pre-1700 neyd.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: need n.1
Etymology: Originally the dative singular of need n.1, used adverbially. Compare needs adv.The uses at sense c could be analysed as showing the infinitive of need v.2 with following bare infinitive (compare quot. 1656 at need v.2 10c(a)α. ), although comparison with similar uses of needs adv. (see sense 6 s.v.) suggests that analysis as adverb is more probable in these instances.
Now poetic and rare.
Of necessity, necessarily, unavoidably; = needs adv.
a. With must or (chiefly in Old English and Middle English) mote or shall. Cf. needs adv. II.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > [adverb]
needeOE
of (also for, on) needeOE
needseOE
needlingc1225
needs cost?a1300
needlingsc1300
needlya1350
of necessityc1390
needfullya1398
necessarily?a1400
needgatesa1400
needingsa1400
needwaysa1400
needslyc1425
perforcec1425
needilyc1475
needwayc1480
of (or on) force?1507
need-forcea1525
requisitely1565
of very force1587
necessitously1637
necessitively1647
par force1819
imperatively1833
necessitatedly1864
of perforce1897
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) v. ii. 115 Ic sceal eac niede þara mongena gewinna geswigian þe on [þæm] eastlondum gewurdon.
OE Blickling Homilies 49 Þis sceal se mæssepreost nede bebeodan.
OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) xliii. 11 Gif ge nyde swa don sceolon, doþ swa ge willon.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1006 Hit him eallum lað wære, þæt man nyde moste þam [here] gafol gyldan.
c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 176 Hit sceolde nede gan all æfter his aȝene wille.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 13558 Nede he shollde trowwenn wel & lefenn þatt he seȝȝde.
c1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 53 (MED) Nu þu schald bileuen & icht mot fare nede.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 787 He bileuede as he nede moste vorþ mid one kniȝte.
c1390 Castle of Love (Vernon) (1967) 572 Then most it nede be,..That Goddys sone shuld mon be come.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 222 (MED) As þe first mut nede be good, so þe toþer mut nede be yvel.
a1450 (?c1350) Pride of Life l. 204 in N. Davis Non-Cycle Plays & Fragm. (1970) 96 Þogh þou be kinge Nede schalt haue ende.
c1450 (a1400) Sir Eglamour (Calig.) (1965) l. 792 Þe emperour commanded þey schuld hym do—Hys wyll most nede be done.
1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure 23 The bryttel fleshe, nourisher of vyces, Under the shadowe of evyll slogardy, Must need haunte the carnall delices.
1615 J. Day Festivals 307 She must need be aboue an Hundred.
1641 J. Milton Animadversions 64 Your reverence to eek out your sermonings shall need repaire to Postills, or Polianthea's.
1664 K. Philips Poems (1667) 163 From thy Womb such Heroes need must rise.
1727 D. Defoe Compl. Eng. Tradesman (ed. 2) I. Suppl. iii. 115 Perhaps they are in hurry enough, or indeed too much for any more concern than need must.
1784 E. Allen Reason vii. 275 Our great proficients in prayer must need think themselves to be of great importance in the scale of being.
1807 E. S. Barrett Second Titan War 10 Have ye not heard those sounds, which need must lure ye?—‘My Luds—your Ludships—gemmen of the Jury.’
1858 O. S. Leland Beatrice iii. i. 31 To make such a sacrifice, one must need love you very, very dearly.
1875 W. Carleton Farm Legends (1887) 44 Is she so fair, is she so sweet, that you must need desert me?
1969 D. M. Jones Tribune's Visitation 15 Poets who must need weave dreams and yet more dreams.
†b. Not with modal auxiliary. Obsolete.In 14th and 15th centuries frequently with behove.
ΚΠ
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 46 An feble mon..wule iseon ȝeunge ancres & lokin neode [c1230 Corpus nede] as stan hu hire wlite him likeð.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3165 Ðo wurð phara[o]n nede driuen, And haued hem ðane leue giuen.
a1325 (?c1300) Northern Passion (Cambr. Gg.1.1) 388 (MED) Bot hit bihouit alwei so, þat me bihouit ned þar to, I am redi to þi wille.
c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 5 (MED) Þer der no fend acombry ous; Crist is mid ous to-same, And neade.
?a1425 Castle of Love (Cotton App.) (1967) 153 Þe ferth doughter hyght Pesse..Awey ned hir bud fle, For þer contak is and strife..þer mey Pese noght be.
a1450–1500 ( Libel Eng. Policy (1926) 146 (MED) Than nede frome Flaundres pease of us be sought.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 611 Seth yow be-hove nede for to go.
†c. With will or would. Obsolete.In quot. 1641 perhaps implying determination or fixity of purpose; cf. needs adv. 6.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > [adverb] > inevitably
uneschewablyc1374
without defencec1430
inevitably1447
unscapablyc1449
necessarlya1500
no remedy1531
unavoidably1608
indeclinably1624
unevitably1624
unpreventablya1639
need1641
unfrustrably1654
ineluctably1655
inavoidably1674
unhinderably1678
resistlessly1725
inevadibly1842
infrustrably1861
undivertibly1866
inescapably1881
unescapably1882
deterministically1885
indissuadablya1894
ineludibly1893
1641 J. Trapp Theologia Theol. 347 Yet they will need be the only Musulmans, that is, right Beleevers.
1654 D. Osborne Lett. (1888) 246 Jane would need make me some for them and myself.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1eOEn.21323v.1eOEv.2OEadv.eOE
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