willl (wil)

[ Man, y am more redy alway To forzeue thee thi mys gouernaunce than thou art mercy for to pray, For my wille were thee to enhaunce. Political Poems , etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 201. I thanke God, I had no wille to don it, for no thing that he be high ten me. Mandeville , Travels, p. 35. I wol axe if it hir wille be To be my wyf, and reule hir after me. Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 270. They who were hottest in his Cause, the most of them were men oftner drunk then by thir good will sober. Milton , Eikon ok las tes, xix. 2. That which is wished for or desired; expre wish; purpose; determination. When Castor hade clanly consayuit his wille , He onswared hym honestly with orryng a litill. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1918. Thy will be done. Mat. vi. 10. There is no greater Hindrance to Men for accomplishing their Will than their own Wilfulne . Baker , Chronicles, p. 72. That eternal immutable law in which will and reason are the same. Burke, Rev. in France. He holds him with his glittering eye The wedding-guest stood still, And listens like a three-years' child: The Mariner hath his will . Cole ridge, Ancient Mariner, i. Here was the will , and plenty of it; now for the way. L. M. Alcott, Hospital Sketches, p. 4. 3. Wish; request; command. Tell me now, Mr. Acres, in case of an accident, is there any little will or commi ion I could execute for you? Sheridan, The Rivals, v. 3. 4. Expre ed wish with regard to the disposal of one's property, or the like, after death; the document containing such expre ion of one's wishes; especially, in law, the legal declaration of a person's intentions, to take effect after his death. The e ential distinction between a will and any other instrument or provision contingent upon death is that a will has no effect whatever until death, and may be freely revoked meanwhile; but a deed which may create or convey an estate in the event of death must take effect as binding the grantor in his life-time. In English law the word will was originally used only of a disposition of real property to take effect at death, the word testament being then used, as in the After Christ had made his will at this supper, and given strength to his will by his death, and proved his will by his resurrection, and left the church po e ed of his estate by his ascension,. he poured out his legacy of knowledge. Donne , Sermons, xxviii. Her last will Shall never be digre 'd from. Ford , Broken Heart, v. 3. O lead me gently up yon hill,. And I'll there sit down, and make my will. The Cruel Brother (Child's Ballads, II. 255). 5. Discretion; free or arbitrary disposal; sufferance; mercy. ze ar welcum to welde as yow lykez, That here is, al is yowre awen, to haue at yowre wylle & welde. Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 836. He had noe fir me estate in his tenement, but was onely a tenaunt at will or little more, and soe at will may leave it. Spenser, State of Ireland. But by constreynt and force of the sayde foule chaunge able wether we strake all oure sayles and lay dryuynge in the large see at Godes wyll vnto the nexte mornynge. Sir R. Guylforde , Pylgrymage, p. 68. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies. Ps. xxvii. 12. The Prince was so devout and humble that he submitted his Body to be chastised at the Will of Dunstan Abbot of Glastenbury. Baker , Chronicles, p. 11. 6927 6. The faculty of conscious, and especially of deliberate, action. The will should not be confused (as it is, however, by different writers) with self-control, desire, choice, or attention, although the first and last of these are special modes of volition. Nor is "willing" a table to move automatically acro a room an act of will; for experiment shows that effort of this kind, however strenuous, fails to cause even the willer's own hand or foot to move. Normally, the consciousne of action is merged in sensations coming from the member moved; but in cases of anæsthesia the agent is still aware of being in action, and even more or le of what he is doing. This consciousne always involves a sense of opposition, whether in the form of a struggle or of a triumph, or in the negative aspect of a sense of freedom. (See freedom of the will, below.) We are always aware of some resistance, be it only the inertia of our limbs. Willing thus e entially involves perceptive sensation, the reflexio of Thomas A quinas. (See reflection, 7.) When the real object with which we are in relation is studied with reference to the predicates attributed to it by the senses, the result is experience; but when the predicates we are inwardly inclined to attach to it are studied out, the operation is deliberation, terminating in choice, and commonly followed by acts of will. This cognitive proce is the nece ary condition of self-control. By a "strong will" is sometimes, and perhaps most correctly, meant great self-control; but more usually a power of bearing down the wills of others by tiring them out and by a domination like hypnotism is intended. Appetite is the Will's solicitor, and the Will is Appetite's controller; what we covet according to the one by the other we often reject. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, I. viii. § 3. Every man is conscious of a power to determine in things which he conceives to depend upon his determination. To this power we give the name of will . Reid, Intellectual Powers, ii. 1. 7. The act of willing; the act of determining a choice or forming a purpose; volition. Even actual sins, committed without will, Are neither sins nor shame - much more compell'd. Fletcher (and another ), Queen of Corinth, iii. 2. It is nece ary to form a distinct notion of what is meant by the word Volition in order to understand the import of the word Will, for this last word properly expre es that power of the mind of which volition is the act.. The word will, however, is not always used in this its proper acceptation, but is frequently substituted for volition, as when I say that my hand moves in obedience to my will . D. Stewart , Works (ed. Hamilton), VI. 345. Antecedent will. See antecedent. - At will. (at) At command; in thorough mastery. He that can find two words of concord cannot find foure or fiue or sixe, vnle e he haue his owne language at will . Putten ham , Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 73. (6) At pleasure; at discretion. To hold an estate at the will of another is to enjoy the po e ion at his pleasure, and be liable to be ousted at any time by the le or or proprietor. See estate at will, under estate. ze schul wite of youre sone That ze long haue for-lore leue me for so the, & him winne a-zen at wille. William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2955. We know more from nature then we can at will communicate. Emerson , Nature, iv. And if we think of various sensations in parts of our bodies we can produce them at will , and can induce at our pleasure other bodily alterations through emotional excitement. F. H. Bradley, Mind, XIII. 27. Conjoint will, joint will, mutual wills, legal phrases often used without much discrimination. Especially - ( a ) A testamentary act by two persons jointly uniting in the same instrument, as their will, to take effect after the death of both. (b) A similar instrument to take effect as to each on his or her death. These two cla es are more properly termed joint or conjoint. (c) Wills made in connection by two persons pursuant to a compact, binding each to the other to make the dispositions of property thus declared. (d) Wills made to bequeath the effects of the one first dying to the survivor. These two cla es, and particularly the last, are more appropriately termed mutual. The legal effect of such wills is often a matter of doubt.-Factum of a will. See factum. Freedom of the will, a mental attribute the existence of which is disputed. The phrase is taken in different senses by different thinkers. (a) The power of doing right on all occasions. (b) That freedom of which we have an immediate consciousne in action. This is, however, only the consciousne of being able to overcome some unspecified resistance to some unspecified extent, which implies and is implied in the fact of resistance, and is in fact but an aspect of the sense of action and reaction. (c) The power of acting from an inward spontaneity, not altogether dominated by motives. This is what most of the metaphysical advocates of the freedom of the will specifically contend for. It is a limitation of the action of causality, even in the material world. Some would restrict the spontaneous power of the mind to making particles swerve without variation of their vis viva; but this is untenable, since the law of action and reaction, which would thus be vitiated, is far more securely proved than that of the conservation of energy, the evidence for which is imperfect, while the objections to it are weighty. It is contended on the one hand that such spontaneity is an indispensable condition of moral action; and on the other that, if it exists, it has no direct reference to morality except this that, so far as a being is spontaneous in this sense, he is free from the moral law as well as from that of causation, and that there is neither sense nor justice in holding him responsible for mere sporadic effects of pure non-cause. Responsibility, it is argued, ought to imply that a man's conduct can be regulated by principles as efficient causes, and is not free from the influence of causation. Free will, liberty; freedom; liberty as to choice in faith or conduct; also, the faculty of will as being free, or not absolutely subject to causation. will Certainly there be that delight in giddine , and count it a bondage to fix a belief - affecting free will in thinking, as well as in acting. Bacon , Truth (ed. 1887). We thus, in thought, never escape determination and nece ity. It will be observed that I do not consider this inability to the notion any disproof of the fact of free - will. Sir W. Hamilton, Works, p. 611. Good will. (a) Favor; kindne . (b) Sincerity; right intention. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will. Phil. i. 15. His willest, of his own will; voluntarily. A thyng that no man wol, his willes , helde. Chaucer , Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 272 (Harl. MS.). Ill will, enmity; unfriendline . It expre es le than malice. Compare good - will and ill- will. - Inofficious will. See inofficious. Joint will, mutual wills. See conjoint will. - Officious will. See officious. - Register of wills. See register2.- Roman will, a form of ancient Roman will which in later times was allowed in the Eastern Empire, and generally known as the Roman will, combining something of the form of the mancipatory with the efficacy of the Pretorian testament. See testament. Maine. Simple will. See simple. - Statute of Wills, the name commonly designating a British or an American statute regulating the power to make wills; more specifically, an English statute of 1540 (superseded by the Wills Act), by which persons seized in socage were allowed to devise all their lands except to bodies corporate, and persons seized in chivalry were allowed to devise two thirds: sometimes also called the Wills Act. - Tenant at will. See tenant1.- To have one's will, to obtain what is desired. To work one's will, to act absolutely according to one's own will, wish, pleasure, or fancy; do entirely what one pleases (with something). For tho' the Giant Ages heave the hill And break the shore, and evermore Make and break, and work their will , What know we greater than the soul? Tennyson, Death of Wellington. Wills Act, an English statute of 1837 (7 Wm. IV. and 1 Vict., c. 26) which repealed the Statute of Wills, and enacted that all property may be disposed of by will. It required wills to be in writing, signed at the foot, and attested by two witne es, and declared the effect of certain words and phrases in them. The amendment of 1852 (15 and 16 Vict., c. 24) relates to the position of the signature. With a will, with willingne and earnestne ; with all one's heart; heartily. Mr. Herbert threw himself into the busine with a will. Dickens, Great Expectations, xlv. will2 (wil), v.; pret. and pp. willed, ppr. willing (pres. ind. 3d pers. wills ). [ ME. wilnen, desire, wish (see wiln ); secondary verbs, from the primitive verb represented by will1. The two verbs ( willl and will2 ) early became confused, more esp. in cases in which the auxiliary verb was used as a principal verb.] I. trans. 1. To wish; desire. [Archaic.] There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife? Shak., T. of the S., i. 1. 56. A great party in the state Wills me wed to her. Tennyson, Queen Mary, i. 4. 2t. To communicate or expre a wish to; desire; request; direct; tell; bid; order; command. Within half an houre after, Mrs. E ex willed the said Hugh to go to Mrs. Ralegh and will her to send the said lady a couple of the best chickens. Darrell Papers, 1568 (H. Hall's Society in Elizabeth an [Age, App. ii.). Sir Ladron, your sonne and my cousin willed me that I should write vnto you the sorrow which I conceiued of the sickne e your Lordship hath had. Guevara , Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 189. Now here she writes, and wills me to repent. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iii. 4. Gorton and his company wrote a letter to Onkus, willing him to deliver their friend Miantunnomoh. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 158. 3. To determine by act of choice; decide; decree; ordain; hence, to intend; purpose. All such Buttes and Hoggesheads as may be found to serue we will shalbe filled with Traine Oyle. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 300. Two things he willeth , that we should be good, and that we should be happy. Barrow , Sermons, III. iv. Man in his state of innocency had freedom and power to will and to do that which was well pleasing to God; but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it. C. Mather, Mag. Chris., v. 1. Man always wills to do that which he desires most, and when he does not feel himself obliged by the sentiment of duty to do that which he desires le . Maudsley, Body and Will, p. 92. We shall have succe if we truly will succe -not otherwise. O. W. Holmes, E ays, p. 118. 4. To dispose of by will or testament; give as a legacy; bequeath: as, he willed the farm to his nephew. Servants and their families descended from father to son, or were sometimes willed away, the servant being given, within limits, his choice of a master. The Century , XXXVI. 277. 5. To bring under the influence or control of the will of another; subject to the power of another's will. [Recent.] will The one to be willed would go to the other end of the house, if desired, whilst we agreed upon the thing to be done. Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, I. 57, note. II. in trans. 1. To wish; desire; prefer; resolve; determine; decree. As will the rest, so willeth Winchester. Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 162. You, likewise, our late guests, if so you will , Follow us. Tennyson, Prince , v. 2. To exercise the will. See how my sin-be mangled body lies, Not having pow'r to will , nor will to rise! Quarles, Emblems, iv. 8. He that shall turn his thoughts inwards upon what pa es in his own mind when he wills , shall see that the will or power of volition is conversant about nothing but that particular determination of the mind, whereby barely, by a thought, the mind endeavours to give rise, continuation, or stop to any action which it takes to be within its power. Locke , Human Understanding, II. xxi. § 30. willst, a. [Sc. also wull ; wille , villr (for * vildr ), wild: see wild . ] Astray; wrong; at a lo ; bewildered. Adam went out ful wille o wan. Quoted in Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), Glo ., p. 213. All wery I wex and wyll of my gate. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2369. And wull and waif for eight lang years They sail'd upon the sea. Rosmer Hafmand (Child's Ballads, I. 253). will3+, v. i. [ will3 , a.] To wander; go astray; be lost, at a lo , or bewildered. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2359.