Meaning of want must be one's master | Babel Free

Definitions

One’s desire will not be satisfied; one must continue to want.

UK, dated

Examples

“JUDY, (within) Well! what do you want, Mr. Punch? PUNCH. Come up stairs: I want you. JUDY. Then want must be your master. I'm busy.”

“The market was brighter than you would think anything could be. There were stalls for everything you could possibly want—and for a great many things that if you wanted here and now, want would be your master.”

“"I want the ring," said Mabel, rather mulishly. "Want"—the words came out of the still evening air—"want must be your master. You can't have the ring. I can't get it off!"”

“He wants my money and my life, though want must be his master, for some brutish empire of his. Money I haven’t.”

““Poor fellow!” said Graham. “Want must be his master, as nurses said in the good old days before Montessori was heard of. […]””

CEFR level