Require (r-kwr), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Required (-kwrd); p. pr. & vb. n. Requiring.] — Webster enters it under “require”
Etymology: [OE. requeren, requiren, OF. requerre, F. requ; L. pref. re- re- + quaerere to ask; cf. L. requirere. See Query, and cf. Request, Requisite.]
1. To demand; to insist upon having; to claim as by right and authority; to exact; as, to require the surrender of property. Shall I say to Cæsar What you require of him Shak. By nature did what was by law required. Dryden.
2. To demand or exact as indispensable; to need. just gave what life required, and gave no more. Goldsmith. The two last [biographies] require to be particularly noticed. J. A. Symonds.
3. To ask as a favor; to request. I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way. Ezra viii. 22.
Syn. -- To claim; exact; enjoin; prescribe; direct; order; demand; need.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for required; he lists it under necessary.
Where he writes about it:
That which is requisite (or required) is so in the judgment of the person requiring it, but may not be so absolutely; thus, the requisite is more a matter of personal feeling than the indispensable. — from necessary