will

Alternative forms

• 'll (contraction)
• vill, weel (pronunciation spelling)
• wil, wille, woll, wyll (obsolete)

Verb

will (third-person singular simple present will, present participle willing, simple past would, no past participle)

1. (auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall. [from 10th c.]

   One of our salesmen will visit you tomorrow.

   I will pass this exam.

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     Good fool, as ever thou wilt deserve well at my hand, help me to a candle, and pen, ink and paper : as I am a gentleman, I will live to be thankful to thee for’t.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:

     “I will, with your leave, relate to you, miss, the story of one of our customers.”

2. (auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to. [from 14th c.]

   Unfortunately, only one of these gloves will actually fit over my hand.

3. (auxiliary) Expressing a present tense or perfect tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference". [from 15th c.]

   He will be home by now. He always gets home before 6 o'clock.

   I can't find my umbrella. I will have left it at home this morning.

   • 2007, Edward Jesko, The Polish:

     “That will be five zloty.” I reached into my pocket and came up with some coins.

   • 2012, Penny Freedman, All The Daughters:

     Unless she diverted on the ten minute walk home, she’ll have got home at about half past.

4. (auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action). [from 9th c.]

   Boys will be boys.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 17:7–8:

     But which of you hauing a seruant plowing, or feeding cattell, will say vnto him by & by when he is come from the field, Goe and sit downe to meate? And will not rather say vnto him, Make ready wherewith I may suppe, and gird thy selfe, and serue me, till I haue eaten and drunken: and afterward thou shalt eate and drinke.

     (reflecting similar usage of future in the Greek)

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 28:

     As young men will, I did my best to appear suave and sophisticated.

   • 2009, Stephen Bayley, The Telegraph, 24 Sep 09:

     How telling is it that many women will volunteer for temporary disablement by wearing high heeled shoes that hobble them?

   • 2011, “Connubial bliss in America”, in The Economist:

     So far neither side has scored a decisive victory, though each will occasionally claim one.

5. (auxiliary) To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations, often in questions and negation. [from 10th c.]

   Will you marry me?

   I’ve told him three times, but he won’t take his medicine.

6. (now uncommon or literary, transitive) To wish, desire (something). [chiefly 9th–19th c.]

   Do what you will.

   God willed it.

   • c. 1450, The Macro Plays:

     If thou wilt fare well at meat and meal, come and follow me.

   • 1601, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, or What You Will:

     Twelfe Night, Or what you will (original spelling)

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 8:2:

     And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

   • 1944, St. Augustine, translated by FJ Sheed, Confessions:

     Grant what Thou dost command, and command what Thou wilt.

7. (now rare, intransitive) To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that). [9th–19th c.]

   Consider, if you will, the possibility that the sherry glasses were misplaced accidentally.

   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew:

     the disciples cam to Jesus sayinge unto hym: where wylt thou that we prepare for the to eate the ester lambe?

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

     see God's goodwill toward men, hear how generally his grace is proposed, to him, and him, and them, each man in particular, and to all. 1 Tim. ii. 4. "God will that all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth."

8. (archaic) Implying will go.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     I’ll to England.

Alternative forms

• wille (obsolete)

Noun

will (plural wills)

1. One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention. [from 9th c.]

   Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason.

2. The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition. [from 10th c.]

   Most creatures have a will to live.

   • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     The episode’s unwillingness to fully commit to the pathos of the Bart-and-Laura subplot is all the more frustrating considering its laugh quota is more than filled by a rollicking B-story that finds Homer, he of the iron stomach and insatiable appetite, filing a lawsuit against The Frying Dutchman when he’s hauled out of the eatery against his will after consuming all of the restaurant’s shrimp (plus two plastic lobsters).

3. One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands. [from 9th c.]

   Eventually I submitted to my parents' will.

4. Firmity of purpose, fixity of intent

   Synonyms: determination, firmness, resoluteness, resolve

   • 1998, John Skorupski, , Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Mill, John Stuart (1806–73):

     Thus Mill’s case for the claim that happiness is the sole human end, put more carefully, is this: ‘Whatever is desired otherwise than as a means to some end beyond itself, and ultimately to happiness, is desired as itself a part of happiness, and is not desired for itself until has become so’ (1861a: 237). Nothing here assumed Hume’s view that every action must ultimately flow from an underived desire. That is a quite separate issue, and Mill’s view of it is closer to that of Kant or Reid than to that of Hume. He insists ‘positively and emphatically’ that the will is a different thing from desire; that a person of confirmed virtue, or any other person whose purposes are fixed, carries out his purposes without any thought of the pleasure he has in contemplating them, or expects to derive from their fulfilment. (1861a: 238) This distinction between purpose and desire is central to Mill’s conception of the will. When we develop purposes we can will against mere likings or aversions: ‘In the case of an habitual purpose, instead of willing the thing because we desire it, we often desire it only because we will it’ (1861a: 238). Every action is caused by a motive, but not every motive is a liking or aversion: When the will is said to be determined by motives, a motive does not mean always, or solely, the anticipation of a pleasure or of a pain…. A habit of willing is commonly called a purpose; and among the causes of our volitions, and of the actions which flow from them, must be reckoned not only likings and aversions, but also purposes. (1843: 842) The formation of purposes from desires is the evolution of will; it is also the development of character. Mill quotes Novalis: ‘a character is a completely fashioned will’ (1843: 843).

   • 2015, Dr. Harlan K. Ullman, Huffington Post 31 May 2015., "Winston Spencer Ghani":

     ...surely the link could not have been with Churchill the brilliant, gallant and steadfast wartime leader who, by dint of character, will and language, turned near defeat into victory.

5. (law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes. [from 14th c.]

   Synonyms: testament, last will, last will and testament

   • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 1, in Well Tackled!‎:

     “Uncle Barnaby was always father and mother to me,” Benson broke in; then after a pause his mind flew off at a tangent. “Is old Hannah all right—in the will, I mean?”

6. (archaic) That which is desired; one's wish. [from 10th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     I auow by this most sacred head / Of my deare foster child, to ease thy griefe, / And win thy will [...].

7. (archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.) [from 9th c.]

   He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Verb

will (third-person singular simple present wills, present participle willing, simple past and past participle willed or (rare) would)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To instruct (that something be done) in one's will. [from 9th c.]
2. (transitive) To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document). [from 15th c.]

   He willed his stamp collection to the local museum.

4. (transitive) To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something. [from 10th c.]

   All the fans were willing their team to win the game.

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     They willed me say so, madam.

   • c. 1612–1615?, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, revised by Philip Massinger, “Loves Cure or, The Martial Maid”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii:

     Send for music, / And will the cooks to use their best of cunning / To please the palate.