▪ I. willing, vbl. n.
(ˈwɪlɪŋ)
[OE. willung, f. willian will v.2: see -ing1.]
1. Wishing, desire, inclination. Obs., or arch. in conjunction with nilling (with mixture of sense 2). † good willing, the action of wishing well to some one, favourable disposition, goodwill.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. v. (1890) 278 Þætte næniᵹ biscopa hine oðrum forbære þurh unrehte willunge [orig. per ambitionem]. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. pr. ii. (1868) 152 In hem also is libertee of willyng and of nillynge. c 1386 ― Clerk's T. 263 My willynge Is as ye wole ne ayeyns youre likynge. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5952 Whanne she assentith to my willyng. 1418–20 J. Page Siege of Rouen in Hist. Coll. Cit. Lond. (Camden) 23 He sayde, ‘What ys youre wyllynge?’ 1556 Aurelio & Isab. (1608) N vj, All the wyseste desires their favour and goode willinge. 1690 Norris Beatitudes (1694) I. 105 By impotent willing meaning that natural Inclination..we have to every Good. 1710 ― Chr. Prud. v. 218 Our willing of Evil is always with a mixture of nilling. 1865 Neale Hymns on Paradise 10 One in willing, one in nilling, Unity their spirits show. |
2. The action or an act of exercising the will, volition; voluntary choice or determination, intention.
| 1340 Ayenb. 9 Wyþoute greate wille an willinge uor to harmi oþren. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 319 Thou soffrest many a wrong doinge, And yit it is noght thi willinge. c 1425 Lucidarie (Schmitt 1909) 4 Aungels & men, her þewis, willynges, seiynges. 1587 Golding De Mornay ii. 22 What haue we then to thinke of him, whose willings are powers, and whose thoughts are deedes? 1663–70 South Serm., Col. ii. 2 (1715) IV. 296 One and the same Mind is both Being, Understanding, and Willing. 1754 Edwards Freed. Will i. iv. 27 The very willing is the doing. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. ii. ii. (1868) 159 All the senses and sentiments, and willings, and wishes of their lives. 1892 Daily News 2 Feb. 6/6 The two first are of human willing; the last is purely..necessary, inevitable. |
b. The action of influencing another by mere exercise of will, as in hypnotism. Also attrib.
| 1883 Fortn. Rev. 1 Aug. 263 The well-known drawing-room game of ‘Willing’ (where one finds out a hidden object by means of more or less subtle muscular indications from another). 1883 Chamb. Jrnl. 82 The first division corresponds to the ‘willing-game’ described by Dr. Carpenter. |
† 3. Command; injunction. Obs.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 5879 My modir..Nis not all at my willyng Ne doth not all my desiryng. c 1450–60 Bp. Grossetest's Househ. Stat. in Babees Bk. (1868) 328 The wyllyng of god to be performed and fulfyllydde. |
4. The action of bequeathing by will.
| 1847 Grote Greece ii. xi. III. 183 Throughout most rude states of society the power of willing is unknown. |
▪ II. ˈwilling, ppl. a.
Comp. willinger, sup. willingest (now rare).
[OE. willende (will v.1, -ing2) appears in selfwillende self-willing, unwillende unwilling, welwillende well-willing a., yfel-willende evil-willing, and willendl{iacu}ce willingly. But there is no evidence in the simplex or the compounds of continuity of use from OE.]
† 1. Wishing, wishful, desirous; inclined, disposed. Obs.
| 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye ii. 69 Yt were not spedefull to hym..to study in bokes of heuynes & of drede though he felte hymselfe wyllyng therto. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 111 He was not receiued of his woman,..when he was moste willyng to se her. 1587 Holinshed Chron. II. 435/2, I haue..beene the willinger to set downe the same..for that I would not suffer so worthie a man..to be buried in obliuion. 1594 T. Bedingfield tr. Machiavelli's Florentine Hist. (1595) 191 The Pope and the King became more willing one of the others friendship. 1622 Wotton Lett. (1907) II. 230 The willinger to increase his haste. 1697 tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 168 They alledge that the Heat is so excessive, that they are willing to hinder the Sun from coming in, as much as they can. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 403 Some little ‘peep-o'-day boy’, willing to take the ‘top of the morning’ before the rest of his compeers. |
2. Having a ready will; disposed to consent or comply; ready to do (what is specified or implied) without reluctance, having no objection, ‘not disposed to refuse’ (J.); spec. disposed to do what is required, ready to be of use or service. a. in attrib. use, preceding the n.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 18359 Lauerd..þi wiling merci [þou] beris wit-in, And sua þou slockens al vr sin. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. i. (Percy Soc.) 7 To a willyng harte is nought impossible. 1526 Tindale 2 Cor. viii. 12 If there be fyrst a willynge mynde, it is accepted accordynge to thatt a man hath. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 73 We haue willing Dames enough. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 73 Satan..ready now To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet On the bare outside of this World. 1671 ― P.R. i. 222 By winning words to conquer willing hearts. 1697 Dryden æneis viii. 541 Eager of her Charms, He snatch'd the willing Goddess to his Arms. a 1721 Prior Colin's Mistakes iii, The willing Steed receiv'd her soft Command. 1797 Godwin Enquirer i. ix. 82 A willing temper makes every burthen light. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. i. i, Fifteen millions of workers, understood to be the..cunningest and the willingest our Earth ever had. 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 133 Work is done rapidly by willing hands, in the midst of a willing people. 1893 F. C. Selous Trav. S.E. Africa xiv. 270 Our men were a good-tempered, willing lot, and gave us no trouble. |
| absol. 1852 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 365 For the willing there is ever a way. 1868 Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) II. 195 Aid the willing. |
b. in predicative use, or following the n.: const. to and inf., with clause, or absol.; † also formerly to with n.
In quot. 1647 with with = agreeing with, consenting to.
| a 1540 Barnes Supplic. Hen. VIII c iv b, Bycause the king and his lordes shulde bee the wyllynger to take this battaile on them, he sent a commaundement to the byshops, to rayse..a taxe, for to paye the souldyours with. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse Pref. 1 The Souldiors allured with the commodities of the Countries, were made the willinger to the thinge. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. iii. 86 He may staie him, marrie not without the prince be willing. 1601 ― Twel. N. iv. iii. 29 He shall conceale it Whiles [= until] you are willing it shall come to note. 1647 Ward Simple Cobler 21, I am perswaded the Devill himselfe was never willing with their proceedings. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. x. 11 Enquire who is a godly person, willingest to entertain the Gospel. c 1720 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 257 The king was willinger to comply with anything than this. 1754 J. Shebbeare Matrimony (1766) I. 144 Mr. Trueman..[fancied] that Mr. Sharply would be very willing to this Union between his Son and his Ward. 1759 Goldsm. Bee No. 8 They..grew willing to be burnt or hanged out of a world which was no other to them than a scene of persecution and anguish. 1850 Dickens Dav. Copp. v, Barkis is willin'. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §3. 480 The nation was willing to take his obstinacy for firmness. |
c. willing horse (in proverbial phrases), applied to one who is willing to work or to take trouble.
| c 1580 J. Cooke Narr. in World Encomp. by Sir F. Drake (Hakluyt Soc.) App. iv. 207 There nedyd no spure to a willing horsse. 1616 T. Draxe Bibl. Scholast. 93 All lay load on a willing horse. 1881 Daily News 29 Dec. 5/2 It was probably on the well-known principle of working a willing horse that he was left to labour as an ordinary Judge for fifteen years. |
d. transf. Given, rendered, offered, performed, assumed, borne, or undergone willingly.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 757 The people..in a willyng and louyng obedience among themselues. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. v. 63 We send, To know what willing Ransome he will giue. c 1600 ― Sonn. vi. 6 That vse is not forbidden vsery, Which happies those that pay the willing lone. 1628 Milton Vac. Exerc. 52 Held with his melodious harmonie In willing chains and sweet captivitie. 1697 Dryden æneis ii. 965 Haste, my dear Father,..And load my Shoulders with a willing Fraight. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. v. (1841) I. 104 Here, Madam, is the willingest sacrifice I ever made in my life. 1814 Byron Lara ii. iii, With eye, though calm, determined not to spare, Did Lara too his willing weapon bare. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 230 The affection and willing obedience of his subjects. |
e. fig. of things: Compliant, yielding; (of the wind) favourable.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lv. 22 Sum, thocht tham selffis stark,..Ar now maid waek lyk, willing wandis. 1688 Prior Ode Exod. iii. 14 v, Why does He wake the correspondent Moon, and fill her willing Lamp with liquid Light? 1697 Dryden æneis iii. 253 And leaving few behind, We spread our sails before the willing Wind. 1749 Shenstone Irreg. Ode 85 And some entwin'd the willing sprays, To shield th' illustrious dame's repose. 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 54 Down the steep slopes He led with modest skill The willing pathway, and the truant rill. 1844 Kinglake Eothen i. 9 The willing fume [of the tchibouque] came up, and answered my slightest sigh. |
f. advb. Willingly, consentingly, without reluctance. (Now rare or Obs.) willing (or) nilling (arch.), with or against one's will, willy-nilly.
| 1585 Sidney Lett. Misc. Wks. (1829) 323 Which I the willinger do becaws I think him a good honest gentleman. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. vi. 32. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 382 With thy permission then, and thus forewarnd,..The willinger I goe. 1697 Dryden æneis vii. 294 Willing we sought your Shores. |
| 1578 H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 148 [These] conquered in such sorte the hearts of euery one vnto hym, as willing, nilling, it behoued enuy to hang the heade. 1626 T. H[awkins] Caussin's Holy Crt. 488 Arcadius willing, nilling, was constrayned..to signe the petition. 1798 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. IV. 197 And willing or nilling thou'lt come. 1874 Sayce Compar. Philol. iii. 100 Every idiom, ancient or modern, has to be brought willing, nilling, under some ‘family’. |
† 3. That is so, or is done or borne, of one's own will; voluntary, intentional, deliberate, wilful.
| 1550 Crowley Epigr. 33 To the willinge wicked no prophete shall be sente. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. xxi. (1912) 286 But so by Lelius willing-missing was the odds of the Iberian side. 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. iii. 242 Willing misery Out-liues incertaine pompe. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, iii. i. 49 The willing'st sinne I euer yet committed. |
4. Exercising or capable of exercising the will, volitional; conveying impulses of the will.
| 1875 E. White Life in Christ i. i. 8 We know nothing of the post-mortem existence of the thinking willing energy of man. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad xxiv, Ere the wholesome flesh decay, And the willing nerve be numb. |
5. Comb., as willing-hearted, willing-minded adjs.
| 1539 Bible (Great) Exod. xxxv. 22 And they came..(euen as manye as were willynge harted) & brought bracelettes, & earynges, rynges & cheynes. 1648 Hexham ii, Willemoedigh, willing-minded. 1830 Coleridge Lett., to T. H. Green (1895) 751 Our Harriet, whose love and willing-mindedness to me-ward [etc.]. |