Forms: 3–5 lac, 4–6 lak(e, (5 laak), 5–6 lakke, 5–7 lacke, 6–8 Sc. laik, 4– lack. [Early ME. lac corresponds to MLG. lak, MDu. lac deficiency, fault, blame (mod.Du. lak masc. calumny). Cf. LACK a.]
† 1. A defect; failing; a moral delinquency, fault, offence, crime; rarely, a natural blemish. To give the lack of: to impute the fault of. Obs.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 258. Fader & sune & holi gost on god in þrimnesse inne þe nis lac ne lest auȝ alle holinesse.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 29. Constantyn … Brak his feaute sone, of treson it is lak.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, Egipciane, 657. And for my lake be put away.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 955. If I do that lakke … in the nexte ryuer do me drenche.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 99. She hath no lith without a lack.
a. 1400. Octouian, 1394. And all maner of hors he knew, Bothe the lake and the vertu.
c. 1420. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 369. For in hys talkyng no man cowde fynde lak.
1443. Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 213. Esaw wolde have founde a laak, Cause that Jacob was put out of prees.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 2744. That man … to the ordeignaunce of godde of his synne gyves the lakke.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 507/1. Yet haue I before at large opened you ye lackes therof.
1555. Latimer, Serm. (1584), 294. The lacke is not in the law, but in vs.
1598. Q. Eliz., Plutarch, ii. 123. The Curius more profit yeldz his foes than good vnto himself; that telleth them ther Lacks.
† b. Without lack: without defect, flaw, or fault, whether physical or moral; also, without fail. Obs.
c. 1300. Havelok, 191. He garte the erl suere, That he sholde yemen hire wel, Withuten lac.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 95. Fair scho was … & gode withouten lak.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xvi. 4. Þou alowed it as wiþouten lake [v.r. lacke].
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1589. A tok a spere wiþ-oute lak.
c. 1400. Sowdone Bab., 1185. The botelles of bawme withoute lake.
c. 1440. York Myst., xi. 109. I am thy lorde, with-outyn lak.
c. 1460. Vrbanitatis, 86, in Babees Bk. Lette þy Ryȝth sholdur folow his bakke, For nurtur þat ys, with-owten lakke.
† 2. Sc. A fault that brings disgrace; disgrace, reproach, shame. (Often coupled with shame.) Obs.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, Ninian, 644. For thru it haldine wes þar name in gret lak and in schame.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IX. 820. Off us be found no lak eftir to reid.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, II. x. 46. Schamfull hir to sla, Na victory, bot lak following alswa.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, I. 455. To schame & lak thir twa thair seruand drawis.
1603. Philotus, lvii. To slay ane taine man, war bot lack allace.
† b. Blame, censure for a fault. Obs.
14[?]. How Good Wife taught Dau., 230, in Barbour’s Bruce. The cumpany quhar thai tak Sall neuir chap forouten lak.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 174. He dyd not stayne ne putte to lacke or rebuke hys royall autoritie in geuynge sentence of iudgement.
3. Deficiency, want, need (of something desirable or necessary); also, an instance of this. In early use often pl.
c. 1398. Chaucer, Fortune, 5. But natheles, the lak of hir favour Ne may nat don me singen [etc.].
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 158. Lak of discrecioun causeth gret blyndenesse.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 108. Manye vnhelpis and manye lackis of helpis.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxi. 13. Lak of spending dois him spur.
1534. More, Comf. agst. Trib., III. xxii. (1847), 285. That affection happeth in very few, but that either the cause is lack of faith, or lack of hope, or finally lack of wit.
1549. J. Cheke, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 8. Among other lacks I lack painted bucrum.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 3. The lacke [of barley] is more commonly supplied with oates.
1588. Exhort. Subjects, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), II. 105. Remember the remedies, supply the lakes, remove the impediments.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., V. i. 68. Many that are not mad Haue sure more lacke of reason.
1652. Brome, Mad Couple, III. Wks. 1873, I. 48. The ablest [servant] that any Lady of your lacks and longings ever bestow’d a favour on.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. i. 441. We shall not need to say what lack Of Leather was upon his Back.
1753. Life J. Frith (1829), 75. He being driven to necessity and lack of money, was forced [etc.].
1849. Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, i. § 11. 21. It is less the mere loss of labour that offends us, than the lack of judgment implied by such loss.
1874. Blackie, Self-Cult., 64. No genius and no talent can compensate for the lack of obedience.
b. No lack (of): Enough, plenty (of).
c. 1305. Land Cokayne, 29. Þer n’is lac of met no cloþ.
1611. Bible, Exod. xvi. 18. He that gathered litle, had no lacke.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Tale Tyne, vi. 109. There was no lack of loyalty among our people.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, x. There seems to be no lack in this great mansion.
1870. Max Müller, Sci. Relig. (1873), 101. There is no lack of materials for the student of the Science of Religion.
c. For (occas. by, from, through) lack of: for want (rarely loss) of.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Manciple’s Prol., 48. On the Manciple he gan nodde faste For lakke of speche. Ibid., Sqr.’s T., 422. She swowneth now and now for lakke of blood.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 827. For lak off blud he mycht no forthir gang.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 147 b. Ye many for lacke of mortifyenge tasteth not of this feest.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), xiii. 16. Throw laik of speich I thoill ryt grit distress.
1674. Playford, Skill Mus., I. 61. He … slew some of them with his fist for lack of another weapon.
1775. Burke, Sp. Conc. Amer., Wks. III. 88. By lack whereof they have been oftentimes touched and grieved by subsidies given.
1781. Burns, ‘Tibbie, I hae seen the day.’ For laik o’ gear ye lightly me.
1816. Scott, Tales My Landlord, Ser. I. Introd. Those who came to my Landlord for liquor, and went thirsty away for lack of present coin.
1884. Bosanquet, Lotze’s Metaph., 226. A fourth dimension, now unknown to us from lack of incitement to construct it.
d. Proverb.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 8. In loue is no lacke.
1619. Drayton, Idea, lix. In Love there is no lack, thus I begin.
4. The state of being in want; indigence, straitened circumstances. Also, the condition of wanting food; famine, starvation.
1555. L. Digges (title), A prognostication of right good effect … contayninge … rules to iudge the wether,… with a brefe iudgement for euer of Plentie, Lacke, Sickenes [etc.].
1563. Homilies, II. Agst. Gluttony (1859), 306. Pinched by lacke and poverty.
1568. T. Howell, Newe Sonets (1879), 156. Where one wee see to be preferde, three liue for lacke as starued.
a. 1605. Polwart, Flyting w. Montgomerie, 737. Woodtyk, hoodpyk, ay like to liue in lacke!
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 797. Lack or want, indigentia.
† 5. The fact that a person or thing is not present; absence. Obs.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt. xviii. 92. So greued with the lack of one lost shepe.
1575. Laneham’s Let. (1871), 53. Not so goodly az Paradis … yet better a great deel by the lak of so vnhappy a tree.
1596. Lady Pembroke, Lay Clorinda, 89, in Spenser’s Wks. (Globe), 563/1. Whilest we here, wretches, waile his private lack.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., iv. (1628), 98. Shewing the lacke of the matter or substance which it hath lost.
6. quasi-concr. a. The thing wanted. rare.
1549. Cheke, Hurt Sedit. (1641), 28. That men … needing divers things, may in litle roome know where to finde their lack.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. II. 65. Knowing that out of his countrey the Realme of England might be better serued with lackes, then hee in comparison from vs.
1848. W. H. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., vi. (1879), 138. One great lack here and elsewhere is the green sod.
† b. The weight deficient in a specified quantity; short weight. Obs.
1782. Phil. Trans., XCIII. 135. The average of weight hath been only 2 grains 153 decimals lack per lb. which was paid by the moneyers at the scale.
