Definition of: need

(nēd) v.t.
1. To have need or want of; require.
—v.i.
2. To be in want.
3. Archaic To be necessary: It needs not.
4. To be obliged or compelled: in this sense need is used as an uninflected auxiliary verb only in negative and interrogative sentences, followed by the infinitive without to: He need not go; Need he come?
—noun
1. A lack of something requisite or desirable; hence, indigence; poverty: He was in need.
2. A situation of want or peril.
3. The thing needed. See synonyms under NECESSITY, POVERTY, WANT. ♦ Homophone: knead. [OE nīed, nēd]
—need′er noun