wishful, a.
(ˈwɪʃfʊl)
[f. wish n.1 + -ful.]
† 1. Such as is, or is to be, wished; desirable; desired, longed-for. (Cf. desirous 5.) Obs.
| 1523 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 31 This so glorious, so profyttable and so wysshefull an enterpryse. 1565 Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 110 We haue receiued your excellencies wishefull letters. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. xi. 50 The ioyous light, Whereof she long had lackt the wishfull sight. c 1616 Chapman Homer's Hymn Hermes 185 Many a field Pleasant and wishful. c 1645 Howell Lett. I. vi. 4 Having so wishful an Opportunity..I could not but send you this Friendly Salute. |
2. a. Of the eye or look, tone, feeling, etc.: Full of desire; longing, yearning, wistful. (Cf. desirous 2.)
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. i. 14 To greet mine owne Land with my wishfull sight. 1711 Spectator No. 250 ¶6 You can't behold a covetous Spirit walk by a Goldsmith's Shop without casting a wishful Eye at the Heaps upon the Counter. 1739 C. Wesley Hymn, Hail the Day that sees Him rise, Ravish'd from our wishful Eyes. 1810 E. D. Clarke Trav. Russia (1839) 5/1 It has probably happened to others, as to myself, to cast an eye of wishful curiosity towards the eastern boundaries of Europe. 1827 C. Bridges Exp. Ps. cxix. verse 67. 173 The forlorn wandering child casting a wishful, penitent look towards his Father's house. |
(b) In mod. use in weaker sense: expressing or indicative of a wish; chiefly in wishful thinking, thinking, esp. belief or expectation, that is influenced by one's wishes to the extent that relevant (consciously) known facts are (subconsciously) ignored or distorted; also as adj.; so wishful thinker.
| 1932 Sat. Rev. Lit. 2 July 817/4 At two vitally important points Glenn Frank's incisive analysis fades away in a vague realm of hope or even of wishful thinking. 1940 Illustr. London News CXCVI. 498/2 The possibility of any relief in that direction can only exist in the minds of wishful-thinkers. 1940 L. D. Weatherhead This is Victory ii. 58, I do not mean that that which is believed has no other support than man's wishful thinking. 1941 Auden New Year Letter i. 17 Twelve months ago in Brussels I heard the same wishful-thinking sigh. 1942 C. S. Lewis Screwtape Lett. ix. 50 It all depends on whether your man is..of the wishful-thinking type who can be assured that all is well. 1951 ‘A. Garve’ Murder in Moscow i. 20 He was a woolly wishful-thinker who happened to be inordinately vain as well. 1958 Spectator 6 June 724/1 He [sc. a prisoner] hoarded these glimpses of past happiness, rationing his wishful reminiscing to half an hour a day. 1958 Listener 25 Sept. 478/1 There are some embarrassingly wishful statements... ‘The day when Joyce embarked in Dublin..they were burning his first book... He could see the smoke of the bonfire.’.. Dubliners was not burned: it was pulped. 1970 Guardian 10 Dec. 4/4 It is hard to reconcile this sort of picture with the one presented by the wishful-thinkers in Saigon. 1974 E. Ambler Dr Frigo ii. 117 I'm not a wishful-thinking idiot. 1980 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 30 Mar. 55/2 An evocation of youth's transitoriness and innocent wishful-thinking. |
b. Of a person: Possessed by a wish for something specified or implied; wishing, desirous. Now rare in literary prose.
| 1733 Whitehead St. Dunces Poems (1777) 18 Lo! o'er yon flood H―e casts his low'ring eyes, And wishful sees the rev'rend turrets rise. 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. iii. ii. 236 Wishful to see how he worked, I allowed him to take possession. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xlii, I was wishful to say a word to you, sir. 1867 Morris Jason i. 314, I am but Jason, who dwell here alone..Wishful for happy days. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 1703 Wishful from my soul That truth should triumph. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. I. 165 A second chamber well qualified for the duty of revision, and wishful to discharge it. |