wish
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wĭsh
ipa: /wɪʃ/
rhymes: -ɪʃ
homophone: whish (wine–whine merger)
Forms: form: wishes
form: wishing
form: wished
form: wished
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: wish
form: wish
form: wished
form: wish
form: wishest
form: wished
form: wishedst
form: wishes
form: wisheth
form: wished
form: wish
form: wished
form: wish
form: wished
form: wish
form: -
form: wishing
form: wished
Etymology: From Middle English wisshen, wischen, wüschen, from Old English wȳsċan (“to wish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan, from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (“to wish”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”).
Cognate with Scots wis (“to wish”), Saterland Frisian wonskje (“to wish”), West Frisian winskje (“to wish”), Dutch wensen (“to wish”), German wünschen (“to wish”), Luxembourgish wënschen (“to wish”), Yiddish ווינטשן (vintshn, “to wish”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål ønske (“to wish”), Faroese ynskja (“to wish, to desire”), Icelandic æskja, óska (“to wish”), Norwegian Nynorsk ønskja, ønskje, ønska, ønske, ynskja, ynskje (“to wish, to desire”), Swedish önska (“to wish”). Via PIE cognate with Latin Venus, veneror (“venerate, honour, love”), English wonder.
Senses: examples: text: I'll come tomorrow, if you wish (it).
text: I wish it to be known that I wish them all to leave the company.
text: Anyone who wishes an aisle seat should see an attendant.
text: Showing the population what we wish them to be is the best way for them to change.
ref: 2018 May 13, Justin King, “How to Fix the Storylines of Film and Television”, in Return of Kings:
text: I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: Now John the butler must be sent
To learn the road that Phyllis went:
The groom was wished to saddle Crop;
For John must neither light nor stop,
But find her, wheresoe'er she fled,
And bring her back alive or dead.
ref: 1716, Jonathan Swift, Phyllis, or the Progress of Love:
text: Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …
ref: 1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:
glosses: To desire; to want.
examples: text: I wish he mean me well, that he takes so much pains!
ref: 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXXXIV”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:
text: She hears that Miss Bigg is to be married in a fortnight. I wish it may be so.
ref: 1808, Jane Austen, letter, 1 October
glosses: To hope (+ object clause with may or in present subjunctive).
examples: text: This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for.
ref: 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures:
text: Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he said slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."
ref: 1901, W. W. Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw:
text: I wish I could go back in time and teach myself what I know now.
text: I wished (that) it would rain.
glosses: To hope (for a particular outcome), even if that outcome is unlikely to occur or cannot occur.
raw_tags: followed by for
examples: text: We wish you a merry Christmas.
text: I would not wish them to a fairer death.
ref: 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, [Act V, scene viii]:
text: Let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 40:14:
glosses: To bestow (a thought or gesture) towards (someone or something).
examples: text: Anyone who wishes to may leave now.
text: Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
ref: 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
qualifier: followed by to and an infinitive
glosses: To request or desire to do an activity.
examples: text: I was wished to your worship by a gentleman.
ref: 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet Archive page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
text: Farewell: yet for the loue I beare my sweet Bianca, if I can by any meanes light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish him to her father.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
glosses: To recommend; to seek confidence or favour on behalf of.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: as you wish
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: be careful what you wish for
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: half wish
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: ill-wish
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: I wish
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: I wish I may be shot
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: unwish
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: well-wish
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: well-wisher
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wisher
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish-fulfilling
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish fulfilment
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish one joy of it
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish someone ill
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish someone well
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish upon a star
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish-wash
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish well
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: wish you well
sense: Terms derived from the verb "wish"
word: you wish