Webster's English Dictionary

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demand

1. de.mand \di-'mand\ n 1a: an act of demanding or asking esp. with 
   authority  1b: something claimed as due  archaic  2: QUESTION  3a: an 
   expressed desire for ownership or use  3b: willingness and ability to 
   purchase a commodity or service  3c: the quantity of a commodity or service 
   wanted at a specified price and  time 4a: a seeking or state of being 
   sought after  4b: urgent need  5: the requirement of work or of the 
   expenditure of a resource  : upon presentation and request for payment  - 
   on demand 
2. demand \-'man-d*-b*l\ vb [ME demaunden, fr. MF demander, fr. ML 
   demandare, fr. L de]- + mandare to enjoin : to make a demand : ASK  1: to 
   ask for peremptorily or urgently  2a: to ask for legally as a rightful 
   owner  2b: to claim as due, just, or fit  2c: to ask for authoritatively  
   3a: to ask authoritatively or earnestly to be informed of  3b: to require 
   to come : SUMMON  4: to call for as useful or necessary toriness and 
   insistence and often the right to make requests that are to be regarded as 
   commands; CLAIM implies a demand for the delivery or concession of 
   something due as one's own or one's right; REQUIRE suggests the 
   imperativeness that arises from inner necessity, compulsion of law or 
   regulation, or the exigencies of the situation; EXACT implies not only 
   demanding but getting what one demands - de.mand.able aj SYN syn CLAIM, 
   REQUIRE, EXACT: DEMAND implies peremp