‖ desiˈderium
[L. = longing, sense of want, desire, f. stem of dēsīderāre: see desiderate.]
An ardent desire or wish; a longing, properly for a thing once possessed and now missed; a sense of loss.
| 1715 Swift Let. to Pope 28 June, When I leave a country..I think as seldom as I can of what I loved or esteemed in it, to avoid the desiderium which of all things makes life most uneasy. 1789 G. White Selborne (1853) II. xxxiii. 249 This strange affection probably was occasioned by that desiderium. 1883 Sat. Rev. 21 Apr. 485/2 Many Liberals regard the memory of Lord Beaconsfield with a desiderium which has not been exhibited towards that of any English political leader within the memory of living man. |