lack / lak/ • n. the state of being without or not having enough of something: the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. • v. [tr.] be without or deficient in: the novel lacks imagination.

lack vb. †be wanting XII; †blame, disparage XIII; be without XIV; sb. †defect, fault XII; want, need XIV. perh. f. a Gmc. base *lak- orig. expressing ‘deficiency’, ‘defect’, which may have been repr. in OE.; cf. MLG., MDu. lak deficiency, fault (Du. lak calumny), laken be wanting, blame, ON. lakr defective; but some uses may be of Scand. or LG. orig.