shall

▪ I. shall, n.
    (ʃæl)
    [f. shall v.]
    1. An utterance of the word ‘shall’; a command, promise, or determination (such as is expressed by means of ‘shall’).
    It is doubtful whether quots. 1553 and 1608 belong to this word or to shale n.¹ Quots. 1566 and 1593 imply the existence of a punning phrase to feed or serve with shalls (shales).

1553 Respublica (Brandl) iii. iii. 90 Adul. Ye shall prove att length by theffecte y{supt} shall ensue. Peop. Nai, and we shall alwaie bee served but with shales, than chil beleve een still y{supt} vaire woordes beeth but tales. 1566 R. Ascham Let. in Harington Nugæ Antiq. (1804) I. 101 As now another man shall enjoye the sweet kirnell of this hard and chardgeable nutt, which I have bene so long in cracking; and nothing left unto me but shells and shalls to feed me with all. 1593 Churchyard Challenge 153 Y 2, You shall haue Nuts, they say when ploms are ripe. Thus all with shalls or shalles ye shal be fed, And gape for gold, and want both Gold and lead. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 90 Marke you His absolute Shall? 1608 Merry Devil Edmonton ii. ii. 2 What? hast thou fed me all this while with shalles. And com'st to tell me now, thou lik'st it not? 1677 Gilpin Dœmonol. i. xiii. 103 These wills and shalls of wicked Men, are for the most part God's interpretation of their Acts and Carriage. 1870 M. Arnold St. Paul & Protestantism (1875) 85 The external shalls and shall nots of the law.

    2. The word ‘shall’ as idiomatically used in contradistinction to ‘will’.

1837 Macaulay Ess., Bacon (1843) II. 408 Not one Londoner in a million ever misplaces his will and shall. 1861 J. Angus Handbk. Engl. Tongue 219 These ‘Shalls’ are sometimes wrongly emphasized. 1882 A. J. Ellis Presid. Addr. in Trans. Philol. Soc. 23 These shalls and wills are still shibboleths. 1891 Daily News 26 June 5/2 Perhaps no Scot ever yet mastered his ‘shalls’ and ‘wills’.

▪ II. shall, v.
    (ʃæl, unstressed ʃ(ə)l)
    Pa. tense should (ʃʊd, ʃəd). Forms: see below.
    [A Com. Teut. preterite-present strong verb: OE. sceal, sculon, sc(e)olde = OFris. skil (skel, scol), skilun (skalun, etc.), skolde (sculde, etc.), OS. skal, skulun, skolda, OLow Frankish sal, sulum, solde (MDu. sal, sullen, solde, mod.Du. zal, zullen, zou), OHG. scal, sculun, scolta, also sal (sol), sulun, solta (MHG. schal and schol, schulen, scholte, also sal and sol, sulen, solte; mod.G. soll, sollen, sollte), ON. skal, skulu, skylda (Sw. skall, pa. tense skulle; Da. skal, pa. tense skulde), Goth. skal, skulum, skulda. The Teut. root (*skel-:) *skal-: *skul- to owe (:—pre-Teut. *skel-: *skol-: *sk'l) is represented by Goth. skula, OHG., OS. scolo, OE. ᵹescola wk. masc., debtor, OHG. sculd, sculda (mod.G. schuld), OS. sculd, OE. scyld fem., debt, guilt. Outside Teut. the only certain cognates are Lith. skelěti to be guilty, skìlti to get into debt, skolà debt, guilt, OPrussian skallisnan (acc.) duty, skellânts guilty, po-skulit to admonish.
    The northern English dialects (including Sc.) have a form sal, pa. tense suld, with initial s instead of sh. This does not occur in the remains of ONorthumbrian, but first appears in the 13th c. It is remarkable that a similar form, with s irregularly representing OTeut. sk, existed as a dialectal variant in OHG. (sal, sol, sulun) and OFris. (sal, sel), and has ousted the regular form in Ger. (soll, sollen) and Du. (zal, zou). Some scholars regard the s form as representing an OTeut. variant, originating from the euphonic dropping of k in inflexional forms like the subjunctive *sklī-. It seems more probable that it was independently developed in the different dialects at an early period, while the sk- retained its original pronunciation; in stressless position the k might naturally be dropped, and the simplified initial afterwards extended by analogy to the stressed use.
    In Eng. the vb. has no inf. or pples. (the evidence of an OE. inf. sculan, sceolan, is doubtful). Some of the other Teut. langs. have an infinitive: OHG. scolan, solan (MHG., mod.G. sollen), MDu. sullen (Du. zullen), ON. skulu (pa. tense inf. skyldu); Goth. has the pres. pple. skuland-s and the pa. pple. skuld-s; OHG. has the pres. pple. scolanti (mod.G. sollend), and early mod.G. the pa. pple. gesollt; ON. has a ppl. adj. skyld-r bound by duty.]
    A. Inflexional Forms. I. Present tense.
    1. 1st and 3rd pers. sing. (α) 1 sceall, scell, scyl, 1–3 sc(e)al, scel, scæl, 3 scall, erron. swal, 3–4 ssal, 3–6 schal, 3–7 shal, 4 schel, ssel, 4–5 schalle, xal, 4–6 schall, 5 shalle, schawl(l, schaul, chall, schel(e, schill, 5–6 xalle, 5–7 shale, 3– shall.

Beowulf 438 (Gr.) Ic mid grape sceal fon wið feonde. c 831 Charter in O.E. Texts 445 Hwet man elce ᵹere..aᵹiaban scel. c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §5 Hu hit ᵹeweorðan sceall ær ær hit ᵹeweorðe. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. x. 8 marg., Biscop scæl cunneᵹe..ðone preost. a 1000 Andreas 1483 (Gr.) Þæt scell æᵹlæwra mann..findan on ferðe. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xxii. 37 Ᵹyt scyl beon ᵹefylled þæt be me awriten is. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 219 For wan hi beoð þuss icweðe me scel sigge, an oðre stowe. c 1200 Ormin 17684 All þatt follc þatt æfre wass & all þatt ȝet shall wurrþenn. c 1205 Lay. 5435 Eow swal beon þe betere. Ibid. 32149 No scal hit eou reouwe nauere. c 1250 Owl & Night. 1195 Ich wot hwo schal [v.r. sal] beon anhonge. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 138 Her after..me ssal ihere al þis. a 1300 K. Horn 1312 Ischal þe to hewe [v.r. ich schal]. 1340 Ayenb. 2 (heading), Hou me ssel knawe guod and kuead. 13.. Sir Beues (A.) 155 Me self schel dobbe þe to kniȝt. c 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B) 357 Be my helpe whils I shal lyue. 1382 Shall [see B. 7 c]. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 54 He xal paye ye rytes of ye hows at his entre, viij.d. 1426 Audelay Poems 10, I schal say ȝou the soth, that wel schul ȝe wyt. c 1450 Mankind 586 in Macro Plays 22, I xall goo ronde in hys ere. 1463 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. II. 143, I trowe it shall apeyer. 1525 Sampson in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 261 A synnar..nevyr..schall..deserve such a singulier goodnesse. 1535 Coverdale Amos ix. 11, I shal repayre it. 1536 in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 126, I thynke longe to know wherto I xall hold me. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c. 24 §15 Who doth or shall tap out such Beere. 1663 Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. ii. (1911) 164 This Shal be your warrant.

    (β) 3 sel, sæl, 3–4 sale, 4–5 salle, (5 sill, 6 sell), 3– sal, 4– sall.
    From 14th c. onwards only north. In the early southern and midland examples (Layamon, etc.) the initial s represents (ʃ).

c 1205 Lay. 8904 Þi mon he sæl bi-cumen. c 1220 Bestiary 25 Sal he neure luken ðe lides of hise eȝen. c 1275 Lay. 701 Þe bet ȝou sel worþe. a 1300 Sarmun xxx. in E.E.P. (1862) 4 Þe erþe þe watir þan sal sprede. a 1325 MS. Rawl. B 520 lf. 28 b, Ase ofte as þe tressepas multipliez so sal þe torment wexen of þe peine.

a 1300 Cursor M. 119, I sal yow schew..Brefli of aiþere testament. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 5 Dede him toke.. als it salle do vs. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 3194 Quat sall I dreȝe. c 1461 in Jarrow & Wearmouth (Surtees) 246 He sall knawe hyme by yir takynis. 1473 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 14 For the quhilk he sal ansuer to the compt. 1508 Dunbar Tua mariit wemen 372 Ane othir sall the worschip haif. 1646 Hamilton Papers (Camden) 112, I sall represent the necessitie of it the best way I can. 1784 Burns Addr. Illegit. Child v, If thou..tak' the counsel I sall gie thee. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss. 89 Unemphatic Form Sall (sŭl, sl).

    (γ) 3 sol, shol, 3–4 schul(l, 4 sul, 5 scholl, shul, 6 schol, 9 dial. sholl, shull, etc.

c 1250 Owl & Night. 1025 (Cott.) Wat sol ich þar mid mine songe? c 1330 King of Tars 32, I schul hire winnen in pleyn batayle. 1455 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 287 No maner of man ne woman scholl lad no corne. 1526 J. Taylor in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 333 At whos commyng I schol wryte more at large.

    2. 2nd pers. (α) 1–2 scealt, 2–3 scalt, 3 scælt, scelt, sælt, sschalt, shallt, schald, sald, scald, 3–5 schalt, (also 9 dial.) salt, 4 schelt, sselt, shelt, shult, 5 schild, xalt, 5–6, dial. 8–9 shat, 4– shalt.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. xlii, An þing ðu scealt nede þæran witan. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark x. 21 Ðu scealt habba ᵹe-strion in heofne. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 39 Þu scalt bi⁓wepen þine sunne. c 1200 Ormin Ded. 38 Tekenn mare inoh Þu shallt tæronne findenn. c 1205 Lay. 11492 Þu scælt habben wurhscipe muchele. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1613 Þu schalt stihen biforen me to drihtin in heouene. c 1250 Hymn 31 in Trin. Coll. Hom. App. 256 Þu sschalt us in to heouene lede. c 1250 O.E. Misc. 156/22 Þenne þu schald wel do. a 1300 Cursor M. 26406 Þar-of salt þou þe vmlok. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 3737 Þou shalt haue charge of þo boþe. 1340 Ayenb. 100 Þis zuete word vader..þe sseaweþ þet þou sselt yleue. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xii. 113 To clergie shult þow neuere come. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love ii. iv. 77 Þow salt chawnge. c 1440 Stac. Rome 281 in Polit. Rel. & L. Poems 152 Þou shat haue gret mede. c 1450 Lovelich Grail xxi. 277 In pes ne Reste Schat thow neuer be. c 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 37 Thou xalt be ded. c 1475 Partenay 2166 What shalt thou now don? c 1560 Trag. Rich. II (1870) 55, I com ouer them for ther blancke charters, shat heere else. 1667 Milton P.L. viii. 330 Inevitably thou shalt dye. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xv. v, Shat ha un, d―n me, shat ha un. 1879 Shropsh. Word-bk. p. lxxi, Thou sha't, or sha'st be.

    (β) 3–4 salle, 3–5 sale, schal, 4–5 shal, 5 schall(e, shal(l)e, 7–8 dial. shall, 3– (now dial.) sal(l. (Cf. note on 1 β.)

c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1815 Ðu sal ben hoten israel.

a 1300 Cursor M. 1252 Toward þe est end of þis dale Find a grene gate þou sale. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 659 Feill anoyis thoill ȝhe sall. a 1400 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) i. lxxv, Kyndely hunger whiche thou shal nedelynges fele. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 688 Þou sall..se þe same with þine eȝen. c 1485 Mary Magd. 1176 in Digby Myst. 100 Stryppys on þi ars þou xall have. 1513 Douglas æneis i. viii. 97 Nor thou sall nevir repent the sickirlie. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, i. iii, Eust... I'll see her whom the world admires so much... Sir Bar. Be gad, and sall both see and talk with her. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss. s.v. Sal, Thou sal du it.

    3. pl. (α) 1 sculon, sceolon, sciolon, -un, scilon, sceulon, scolan, scylun, 2 sceolen, 2–3 sculen, sul(l)en, 3 scullen, sceollen, shulenn, scholen, sollen, sulin, sullen, 3–5 schullen, schulen, 4 ssollen, sshullen, schollen, shullon, ssulin, sullen, solen, 4–5 shul(l)en, schulyn, 5 shullan, -yn, -on, schulun.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxiii. §4 Hwæt sculon we nu don? c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. v. 46 Ᵹie sciolun habba, habebitis. Ibid. xx. 18 We stiᵹes vel we scilon stiᵹe, ascendimus. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 1902 (Gr.) Ne sceolon unc betweonan teonan weaxan. c 1100 O.E. Chron. an. 870 (MS. F) Oððe þas preostas scolan munecas beon, oððe [etc.]. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 5 Þet we sulen habben ure heorte..to ure drihten. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 7 For hire we sculen alle deað þolien. c 1200 [see B. 10 b]. c 1205 Lay. 8780 To-gaderen wit scullen [c 1275 sollen] libben. Ibid. 9518 Faren wit swullen to-somne. a 1275 Prov. ælfred 16 in O.E. Misc. 103 Whu we ȝure lif lede sulin. c 1300 Havelok 621 We sholen þe wel fede. 1435 Cov. Leet Bk. 181 Poor chapmen..shullon be gretely hyndered. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xiii. 223 Thei schulen no longer so erre.

    (β) contracted. 4 schulne, shuln, 4–5 schun, schin, schyn, 5 schyn(n)e, shyn, schone, 9 dial. shan, sun, etc.

13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 1810 Þose þat seme arn & swete schyn se his face. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 237 Godis word witnessiþ we shuln ȝiue & dele oure enemys. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 67 They schun holdyn..foure dayes of spekyngges tokedere. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 34 Þer bene bestes þat schyne be rost. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys, Cecilia 408 Fynd we shuln a ful cruel fal. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 590 in Babees Bk., Baylys, and parker, Schone come to acountes euery ȝere. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss. 89 Emphatic Form..Wey shaan... Unemphatic Form..Wey sŭn, sn.

    (γ) 1 (Northumb.) scilo, 2–3 scule, 2–4 sculle, 3 shul(l)e, solle, schule, sul(l)e, ssulle, sul, 3–4 ssolle, schole, 4 schoulle, ssolle, schol, sschulle, scolle, chul, sul, 4–5 scholle, shulle, schul(e, schulle, shul, 5 shule, shole, chull, schil(l, xul.

c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. x. 19 Huæt ᵹespreca scilo, quid loquamini. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 41 Ne scule ȝe neure god don unforgolden. c 1200 Ormin 8655 Siþþenn shule witt anan Off hunngerr deȝenn baþe. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 303 For adam sul ðus and his wif In blisse ðus leden lesteful lif. c 1300 K. Horn 1262 (Laud MS.), To day we schole hem keche. 1340 Ayenb. 186 Wel ssolle we habbe reuþe. c 1350 Will. Palerne 3339 Redli chul ȝe spede. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 38 Pes and acord awey schol wende. c 1410 Sir Cleges 227 Ye schill to Cardyffe to the kynge. 1426 Audelay Poems 5 Ȝe schul have grace. 14.. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 277 In tyme quan we xul dey. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 203 Ȝe chull come þat day to holy chyrch. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 44 What shulle we now doo thynke ye. c 1500 Melusine i. 16 Al thoo that shal demande the without cesse,..shul be putt from theire prosperytees.

    (δ) 3 scul(l)eð, sulleð, ssuleþ, s(s)olleþ, 3–4 schul(l)eþ, 4 shulleþ, scholleþ.

c 1205 Lay. 27376 Heo sculleð beon islaȝene. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 724 Þine sostren ssolleþ abbe al. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 451 Þey schulleþ [MS. γ scholleþ] goo out at þe worldes ende. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 53 For mede we shulleþ synge. 1395 E.E. Wills (1882) 10 To do and to preye as othere Reclus..Shulleth don and preye.

    (ε) 2 scale, 3–4 sal(e, 3–6 sall, 4 sschal, salle, shal(le, 4–5 schal(l, 5 shalle, shal, xal(l, (etc. as in 1) 4– shall.

c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 83 Hwan we scale festen. c 1250 Owl & Night. 1206 Ic wot if smithes sale vuele clenche. a 1300 Cursor M. 11450 To hend and fete we sal him fall. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2405 We schal yow wel acorde. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 141 Þei shal not see him. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 44 Remembrance Of that thei schall hier⁓after rede. c 1400 26 Pol. Poems 149/232 All that lyuen..Shall dye. c 1450 Mankind 358 in Macro Plays 14 We xall bargen with yow. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche 6242 Quhen the Childryng of God..Sall do appeir. 1660 Chas. II, in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. VI. 39 Y{supu} shale find y{supt} hearafter I will do all I can. 1664 Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. iii. (1912) 220 We shal easily provide els-where.

    4. Subjunctive. 1 scule, sceole, sciele, scile, scyle, (pl. 1 scylen, -un, sceulen), 3 sculle, shul(l)e, sule, schulle, schille, 3–5 schule.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxviii. §7 Ne scyle [v.r. sceal] nan mon siocne monnan..swencan. c 897 ― Gregory's Past. C. v. 40 Hu hie selfe scylen fulfremedeste weorðan. c 1000 ælfric Exod. v. 2 Hwæt ys se drihten, Þæt ic hym hiran scile? c 1200 Ormin 3546 Þatt illc mann shule cumenn ham. a 1225 Ancr. R. 178 Þet heo muwe & schule þuruh ham þe betere beon iboruwen. c 1250 Owl & Night. 1683 (Cott.) Schille [Jesus schulle] ich an utest uppen ow grede, ich shal swo stronge ferde lede [etc.]. c 1275 Passion our Lord 144 in O.E. Misc. 41 Þeyh ich to þe deþe schulle myd þe go. c 1450 Myrc 587 Ȝef hyt schule in greyþe fare.

    5. Reduced enclitic forms (all persons and numbers). (α) 6 -sh, -s, 7 -ce, 6– -se, 7– s'; miswritten 7–9 's, 8–9 'se.
    Very frequent in the north, in the expressions Ise uphaud, Ise warrant: see Uphold, Warrant in Eng. Dial. Dict.

1560 Rolland Seven Sages Prol. ii, For Dialogs (quod I) weis get anew. c 1566 Merie Tales of Skelton Wks. 1843 I. p. lviii, In gewd faith, saith the Kendallman, do see, and Ise bay for your skott to London. 1575 Gammer Gurton i. v. 39 Yoush beare the blame for mee. 1575 Ibid. iii. iii. 44 Thouse pay for al. 1578 Whetstone Promos & Cass. ii. iv. ii, Yuse haue a blew one soone. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 63 Iis neir cair, for I sall neuer cair. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV Ind., Ays gar thee recon me nene of thay friend. 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 246 Ice try whither your Costard, or my Ballow be the harder. 1647 Chas. I Let. to Dk. York 15 July, Where I s'have the contentment of seeing you. c 1780 in Child Ballads III. 489/1 Thy dinner's be dressd in Annan Holme. 1825 Jamieson s.v. Ise, In Lanarks. and other counties, ye'se, he'se, she'se, we'se, they'se, that'se, are also used... Thou'se also for thou shalt. a 1864 in R. A. Arnold Cotton Famine 303 Aw feel better neaw. We's be reet enough to-morn, lass.

    (β) 6–9 -st; miswritten 'st. dial.

a 1590 Marr. Wit & Wisd. (Shaks. Soc.) 8, I promise the, before these folke, Thoust neuer cost me grote. 1728 Vanbrugh & Cibber Provok'd Husb. i. 27 We'st ta' the best care we can of 'um.

    6. a. With pronouns affixed: sing. 1st pers. 6 shalche. 2nd pers. 1 scealtu, 3 s(c)haltu, saltu, 3–4 shaltou, 3–5 shaltow, 4 schal(s)tow, saltou, -ow(e, schaltou, scheltou. 3rd pers. 6 shalla. pl. 1st pers. 7 shalles, shals, shal's (= shall us). 2nd pers. 3 sollie (= soll ye).

1553 Respublica v. vii. 1609 And what shalche zai to om?

a 1000 Andreas 220 (Gr.) Scealtu..mid ærdæᵹe..ceol ᵹestiᵹan. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2094 Ne schaltu nower neh se lihtliche esterten. c 1300 Havelok 1322 Alle þe castles þat aren þer-inne Shal-tow..winne. c 1350 Will. Palerne 325 Þat alle þi frendes fordedes faire schalstow quite. a 1352 Minot Poems (ed. Hall) xi. 25 Say now,..how saltou fare? c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1436 To Egremoygne-ward scheltou fare. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7467 But shaltow never of apparence Seene conclude good consequence In none argument.

1556 T. Phaer æneid iv. L ij, And shalla go? Indeede? and shalla flowte me thus?

1605 1st Pt. Ieronimo (1901) ii. i. 50 Prince Balthezer, shalles meete? 1613 Heywood Brazen Age ii. ii, Shals to the field. 1626 B. Jonson Staple of N. iv. i. 3 What shal's doe with our selues?

c 1250 Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 32 Comeþ to srifte..þanne sollie habbe þo helþe of heuene.

    b. With not (na) affixed: 7–9 (now dial.) shannot, shan'not, sha'not; Sc. and north. 8 sha'na, 8–9 shanna (shinna, etc.); 7 shann't, sha'nt, 7– sha'n't, shan't (9 dial. sant, etc.).

1664 S. Crossman in Palmer Bk. Praise (1865) 167 My Life and I sha'nt part. 1668 Dryden Secret Love i. ii, By this leg but you shan'not. 1675 Cotton Burlesque upon B. 48 Nay but I wonnot, so I wonnot, Nor you shan't keep me, no you shannot. 1677 Ravenscroft Scaramouch i. 10 It cannot be, it must not, it sha'not. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin iii. 29 Doctors, Proctors, Paritors together Shann't leave upon thy Naked back one Feather. 1741 Richardson Pamela (ed. 3) I. 121, I shan't stir from this House. 17.. Ramsay O'er Bogie ii, We shanna part For siller or for land. 1792 Burns Bonie Lesley v, Misfortune sha'na steer thee. 1819 R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. 55 Tou sant git a kiss! 1825 Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng. 67 Shatt'n, shalt not. 1826 J. Wilson Noctes Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 148 The same shinna befa' the year. 1862 Mrs. H. Wood Channings iii, Shan't I have a fine time of it! 1876 Black Madcap Violet xii, He sha'n't marry Violet. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., Sallant, Sal n't, Sāan't, Sannat, Sanna, shall not.

    c. Written continuously with an infin. (esp. be).

c 1400 Pety Job 7 in 26 Pol. Poems 121, I shalbe wormes ware. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 189 The tyme salcum that thare salbe bot a pastour and a schepe faulde. 1458–9 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 300 Ther selbe no ladyng of corn. 1502 Bury Wills (Camden) 92 Ther where it xalbe moste nedefull. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxxxviii. 214 b, Let vs assemble togyder, and so we shabe the stronger. 1555 Act 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary c. vi. §4 Every person or persons..w{supc}{suph} shalbee..auctorised. 1597 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1599, (1890) 304/1 The..personis quha salhappin to be querrellit. 1632 Sanderson Serm. 560 He shalbe able to avoyd any sinne.

    II. Past tense.
    7. (α) 1–2 sceolde, 1–3 scolde, sculde, (1 sc(e)alde, 3 shollde, scholte, seolde, erron. swulde), 3–4 ssolde, 3–5 schulde, scholde, 3–6 shulde, (4 sschulde, shullde, chold), 4–6 sholde, schold, shuld, 4–7 shold, 5–6 shoulde, xuld(e, (5 schulld, shoolde, xwld, sculd, schud(e, 6 shalld, 7 shoo'd, sho'd, shu'd, 8 shou'd) 6– should.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxviii. §1 Se Job..licette þæt he sceolde bion se hehsta god. a 900 Martyrol. in O.E. Texts 178 Ðæt ða wildan hors scealden iornan on hearde weᵹas. c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xviii. 24 An seþe scalde ten þusende. Ibid. xx. 10 Þa ærestu wendon þæt hie mare sculdon onfoon. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1140, Xpist ne wolde ðæt he sculde lange rixan. c 1205 Lay. 4267 Þenne and auere mare heo swulden habben are. a 1300 K. Horn 906 Wiþ wronge Scholte [Laud MS. Scholde] ihc hit vnderfonge. 13.. Seuyn Sages 1057 (W.) Who sschulde him biyete but the king? 13.. in Ritson Anc. Songs & Ball. (1877) 62 That such a knight ssold falle. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2014 Sche chold sone be bi-schet here-selue al-one. 1382 Wyclif Matt. ii. 15 That is shuld be fulfillid. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 154 Þe fyngeres þat folde sholden. 1399 ― Rich. Redeles Prol. 14 For he shullde hem serue of þe same after. 1411 Rolls of Parlt. III. 650/1 That the said William Gascoigne shoolde treete bitwen the forsayd Lord..and hym. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. vii. 176 Which pilgrimage..he wolde that no Cristen man schude do. 1461 C. Paston in P. Lett. 26 June, The mony that I xwld have. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 14 Þ{supt} he shold not suffre hyt. Ibid. 37 That..they shuld go to þe ryuage of the see. 1471 Paston Lett. III. 19 That I chuld goo and comon with the woman. 1515 Barclay Egloges v. (1570) D ij, A man on his cloke should not espye a heare. c 1550 Bale K. Johan 1387 (Pollard), What ye mene..I wold ye shuld opynly tell. 1608 D. T[uvill] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 39 As that I shold erect a Tabernacle. 1648 Herrick Hesp., To Dean-bourn, I never sho'd behold. 1662 in Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. ii. (1911) 154 All are troubled that they shoulde make an Order and I should not obey it. 1697 Cibber Woman's Wit i. 2 D'ee believe it impossible you shu'd ever Love? 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 387 These considerations shou'd make us the more attentive. 1785 Burns To Rev. J. M‘Math viii, I'm no' the thing I shou'd be.

    (β) 3 sol(l)de, sulde, soolde; Sc. and north. 4–9 sulde, soulde, 4–8 sould, (4 salde, suuld, sold, 4, 8 sud, 5 sald, 6 sowld, 8 soud), 3– suld.

c 1200 Ormin 7239 Þær Messyass..To manne cumenn sollde. c 1220 Bestiary 149 He fleð fro him als he fro fir sulde. c 1275 Lay. 3485 So man his fader solde. a 1325 MS. Rawl. B 520 lf. 62 Ilke lond..wuche soolde retournen to þilke R.

a 1300 Cursor M. 146 Þe law..þe quilk the Iuus in suld life. 13.. Ibid. 6106 (Gött.), [Moyses] for-bed þat þai Sould vte of hous cum. Ibid. 16464, Þar was na soygne, bot his lauerd sud dei. a 1375 Ibid. 1197 (Fairf.), Our lorde..bad he salde wiþ his wyf dele hit sulde him turne to myche wele. 1497 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 357 The gallory quhilk he suld mak. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xiv. 8 That sowld haif ay thair God afoir thair ene. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iii. 5 That euer I sould byde to se that day! c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1870) 18 Quhither quho, quhen, quhat, etc. sould be symbolized with q or w. 1725 Ramsay Cock Laird v, We maun hae braw things, Abeit they soud break. 1785 Burns To W. S*****n ii, I sud be laith to think ye hinted Ironic satire. 1822 Scott Nigel iii, That I suld have held up my hand to my brow. a 1862 in C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds 213 Ah wur sorely flāad 'at ah sud sāay my text wreng.

    8. 2nd pers. sing. (α) 1 sceoldes, 3–4 suldes, 5 shuldes, xulddes; 1 sceoldest, 2–3 scoldest, sculdest, 3–5 schuldest, 5–6 shuldest, (3 ssholdest, 4 ssoldest, scholdest, 5 sholdest, 6 souldest), shouldest, shouldst.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. v. §3 Eac þæt wæs swiðe micel pleoh þæt ðu swa wenan sceoldes. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3984 Her suldes ðu nu wurðen slaȝen. c 1300 K. Horn 106 (Laud MS.) Þat micte so bi falle Þou suldes slen us alle. a 1425 Cursor M. 2986 (Trin.) Þat þou shuldes not synne in me. c 1485 Mary Magd. 1163 in Digby Myst. 99 And þou xulddes ryde.

Beowulf 2056 (Gr.) Þone þe ðu mid rihte rædan sceoldest. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137, All a dæis fare sculdest thu neure finden man in tune sittende. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 15 Þat ilke uuel þe ic dude þe þu scoldest don me. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 170 As þou shuldist mete of a myst. c 1400 Pilg. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxiv. 70 Yf thou haddest..entended to this scole duely as thou sholdest. 1445 tr. Claudian in Anglia XXVIII. 259 That to trespassours thou sholdist pardon..graunte. 1573 J. Sandford Hours Recr. (1576) 109 That thou shuldest buye that which thou must occupie. 1582 Bentley Mon. Matrones ii. 198 Speciallie that thou shouldest not despaire. 1667 in Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. iii. (1912) 263 Thou shouldest take parte with the opressed. 1820 Scott Monast. xx, Shouldst thou point out to me..an enemy more worthy of my resentment. 1862 Calverley Verses & Transl. (1894) 97 He shall teach thee that thou shouldest not dream.

    (β) contracted. 3 s(s)ost, 4 s(c)host, schust, 4–5 shust.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8974 Ich clupede þe ek up þat þou it ssost ise [v. rr. (14th c.) shost, schost, scholdest, schuldest]. c 1300 Harrow. Hell (A.) 195 Lord crist,..Þou schust com to helle pine. 13.. Medit. 714 Þou shust pray for hem þat þy foos be. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 6824 Rather than thow shust forsake Thy skryppe.

    (γ) 4–5 shuld(e, 4–6 suld(e, 6 should.

a 1300 Cursor M. 12088 Til oþer thues þou suld him won. c 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B) 244 How þou shulde praye, I wold þou wyst. 1411 26 Pol. Poems 46/207 For þou shuld ȝeue, god dede þe sende. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xc. 28 Thow sulde it tell with all the circumstance.

    9. a. With pronouns affixed: 1st pers. sing. 3 schuldich. 2nd pers. sing. 4 shuldestou, 5 schuldestow.

a 1300 Vox & Wolf 163 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 63 What shuldich ine the worlde go? 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 97 Þinge that al þe worlde wote wherfore shuldestow spare To reden it? c 1450 Cursor M. 9611 (Trin.) Þenne shuldestou be douted nouȝt.

    b. With not (Sc. and dial. na) affixed.

c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 2147 How..Sathanas Dude hurre þere lette w{supt} alle his myȝt, þat he shulnot haue come to þat ioyfulle place. a 1796 Burns ‘Dear ―, I'll gie ye some advice’, You shouldna paint at angels mair. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxv, Perhaps I was a fool, Becky, but you should'nt say so. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xxxii, I shouldna wonder if he's come about that man [etc.].

    B. Signification and uses. † I. 1. trans. a. To owe (money). Obs.

c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xviii. 28 Seþe sculde him undred denera. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xvi. 5 Hu mycel scealt þu minum hlaforde? c 1290 Beket 820 in S. Eng. Leg. 130 Þar-of þritti þousent pound þov me schalt. 1340 Ayenb. 115 Ich ne habbe huer-of maki þe yeldinge: uoryef me þet ich þe ssel. Ibid. 145 Þise dette ssel ech to oþren and huo mest his yelt mest he ssel. a 1400 New Test. (Paues) Rom. xiii. 7 Ȝelde ȝe to alle men ȝoure dettes: to hym þat ȝe schuleþ trybut, trybut. c 1425 Hoccleve Min. Poems xxiii. 695 The leeste ferthyng þat y men shal.

    † b. To owe (allegiance). Obs.

c 1325 Poem temp. Edw. II (Percy Soc.) xxxiv, Be the fayth ic schal to God. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1649 And by that feyth I shal to god and yow. [c 1530 Crt. of Love 131 By the feith I shall to god.]

    II. Followed by an infinitive (without to).
    Except for a few instances of shall will, shall may (mowe), shall conne in the 15th c., the infinitive after shall is always either that of a principal verb or of have or be.
    * The present tense shall.
    † 2. In general statements of what is right or becoming: = ‘ought’. Obs. (Superseded by the pa. subjunctive should: see sense 18.)
    In OE. the subjunctive present sometimes occurs in this use (e.g. c 888 in A. 4).

Beowulf 20 (Gr.) Swa sceal ᵹeong guma gode ᵹewyrcean..þæt [etc.]. c 700 Cædmon Hymn 1 Nu scylun herᵹan hefænricæs uard. c 888 ælfred Boeth. xli. §3 Hwy sceall þonne æniᵹ mon bion idel, þæt he ne wyrce? a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia IX. 259 Se scadwis ᵹerefa sceal æᵹðær witan ᵹe hlafordes landriht ᵹe folces ᵹerihtu. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 19 Al þet þe licome luueð þet þa saule heteð..Nu sculle we for-lete þes licome lust for-þon. a 1225 Ancr. R. 96 Ancren schulen brihtluker, uor hore blindfallunge her, iseon ant understonden þer Godes derne runes. c 1300 Havelok 2419 Mine knihtes, hwat do ye? Shule ye þus-gate fro me fle? 1340 Ayenb. 5 Þe hestes ten þet loki ssolle alle men. Ibid. 136 Ase moche ase he ssel and may do wyþ-oute misdo. 13.. Cursor M. 20538 (Gött.) Inogh þai did me vilete, Þat wid right min aune sul be. c 1420 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 242 Alle cristen pepill glad xal bene Þat crist is boþe king and prest. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 29 Pekokys, and pertrikys perboylyd schyn be. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vii. (1885) 125 The kynge shall often tymes sende..his juges, to..punysh riatours and risers. 1562 Legh Armory 149 Whether are Roundells of all suche coloures, as ye haue spoken of here before? or shall they be named Roundelles of those coloures?

    † 3. a. In OE. and occas. in ME. used to express necessity of various kinds (for the many shades of meaning in OE. see Bosworth–Toller): = ‘must’, ‘must needs’, ‘have to’, ‘am compelled to’, etc.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxiv. §3 Þonne scealt þu nede ᵹelefan þæt sum anwald sie mara þonne his. c 897 ― Gregory's Past. C. iii. 34 On ðæm ᵹeswincum he sceal hine selfne ᵹeðencean, ðeah he nylle. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 308 We ðe ben fro heuene driuen, sulen ðusse one in sorwe liuen. c 1275 Passion our Lord 159 in O.E. Misc. 41 If ich hine schal drynke iworþe þine wille. c 1350 Will. Palerne 5422, I wold it were þi wille wiþ vs forto lenge, hit forþinkes me sore þat we schul de-parte. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 369 Tweyne þat beeþ i-wedded a man and a womman schal nedes be outlawed out of þat contray. c 1440 York Myst. xvi. 18, I am fairer of face..(Þe soth yf I saie sall)..Þan glorius gulles.

    † b. In stating a necessary condition: = ‘will have to’, ‘must’ (if something else is to happen).

a 1000 Boeth. Metr. v. 26 Ᵹif þu nu wilnast..þæt soðe leoht sweotole oncnawan..þu forlætan scealt idle ofersælða. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 116 You shall seeke all day ere you finde them, & when you haue them they are not worth the search. 1605 ― Lear v. iii. 22 He that parts vs, shall bring a Brand from Heauen. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, He shall hide himself in a bean-hole, if he remains on Scottish ground without my finding him.

    † c. In hypothetical clause, accompanying the statement of a necessary condition: = ‘is to’.

c 1440 Alphabet of Tales lxv. 48 Right so muste hym chastes his flessh with fastyng if he sal be savid. 1612 Bacon Ess., Greatn. Kingd. (Arb.) 482 Neither must they be too much broken of it, if they shall be preserued in vigor.

    † 4. Indicating what is appointed or settled to take place = the mod. ‘is to’, ‘am to’, etc. Obs.

c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxiv. (Z.) 136 Lecturus sum cras, ic sceal rædan to meriᵹen, lecturus es, þu scealt rædan, lecturus est, he sceal rædan. Ibid. xli. 248 Osculandus, se ðe sceal beon ᵹecyssed. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 565, Nu sceal beon æfre on Ii abbod næs bisceop, & þam sculon beon under þædde ealle Scotta biscopes. c 1205 Lay. 5964 Belin..hit [sc. Rome] bi-tæcheð Brenne þe scæl bi-læuen here. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 56 We ssulleþ her after in þise boc telle of al þis wo. 1526 Tindale Luke vii. 19 Arte thou he that shall come..? 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. iv. 89 What is he that shall buy his flocke and pasture? 1625 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 199 Tomorrow His Majesty will be present..to begin the Parliament which is thought shall be removed to Oxford.

    5. In commands or instructions. a. (a) In the second person, equivalent to an imperative.
    Chiefly in Biblical language, of Divine commandments, rendering the jussive future of the Heb. and Vulgate. (In OE. the imperative is used in the ten commandments.)

a 1000 Andreas 950 (Gr.) Nu ðu, Andreas, scealt edre ᵹeneðan in gramra gripe. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) civ. 13 Ne sceolon ᵹe mine þa halᵹan hrinan. 1340 Ayenb. 5 Þe uerste heste þet god made..is þis: þou ne sselt habbe uele godes. 1382 Wyclif Exod. xx. 7 Thow shalt not tak the name of the Lord thi God in veyn. [So Coverdale, etc.] 1405 Lay-Folks Mass Bk. 64 Ȝe sal mak your prayers specially..for the state and the stabilnes of al halykirk. 1533 Gau Richt Vay 8 Thou sal haif na oder strenge godis. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. 8 Thou sall not slay, in na kin wyse. 1604 Bidding Prayer (still in use), Ye shall pray for Christ's Holy Catholic Church.

    † (b) In expositions: you shall understand, etc. (that). Obs.

c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 5 Nu ic eou habbe þet godspel iseid anfaldeliche, nu scule ȝe understonden twafaldeliche þet hit bi-tacnet. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 10663 A Frysoun ȝe shul vndyrstande To a marchaunde of Fryslande. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) vii. 73 Ȝee schulle undirstonde, that it stont fulle faire betwene Hilles. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. cxxviii, Thou sall wele knawe and witt, Thou may thy hert[e] ground on suich a wise [etc.]. 1523 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) I. 313 Ye shall also understond the Duke of Suthffolke..goyth ouer in all goodlye hast [whit]her I know not.

    † (c) In the formula you shall excuse (pardon) me. Obs. (now must).

1595 Shakes. John v. ii. 78 Your Grace shall pardon me, I will not backe. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 191 You shall excuse me, for I eat no flesh on Fridayes.

    b. In the third person.

a 900 Durham Admon. in O.E. Texts 176 [Ðis mon] scal reda ofer ða feta ða ful infalleð. a 1225 Ancr. R. 24 Þenne schal siggen, hwo se con, ‘Domine labia mea aperies’. a 1325 MS. Rawl. B 520 lf. 32 b, Ȝif þe lord ne mai noȝt suffisen to uellen þe vnder wode, þe contreie him sal helpe. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 794 Ech of yow, to shorte with your weye, In this viage, shal telle tales tweye. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 206 The said Abbesse and her successours whan they ben resonably somoned shul send thedir their certayn steward. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 246 b, It shall be free for every man to joyne hym selfe unto thys league. 1623–4 Act 21 Jas. I, c. 28 §7 No Sanctuarie..shalbe hereafter admitted. 1645 Ordin. Lords & Comm. 5 Scandalous persons shal be kept from the Sacrament. 1744 in Atkyns Chanc. Cases (1782) III. 166 The words shall and may in general acts of parliament, or in private constitutions, are to be construed imperatively, they must remove them.

    6. In the second and third persons, expressing the speaker's determination to bring about (or, with negative, to prevent) some action, event, or state of things in the future, or (occasionally) to refrain from hindering what is otherwise certain to take place, or is intended by another person. a. In the second person.

a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 909 (Gr.) Þu scealt greot etan þine lifdaᵹas. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 221 Ȝif þu þanne þis litle bebod to brecst, þu scealt deaðe sweltan. c 1205 Lay. 26587 Abuggen ȝe scullen þa dede. c 1275 Sinners Beware 316 in O.E. Misc. 82 To day ye schuleþ..vnder-fo luþre mede. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2257 Þe soþe, felawes, ful sone ȝe schol it wite. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys, Cecilia 591 Ye shul hens pace, Or ellys, certeynly, ye shule deye. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. xviii. 240 And syker assuraunce and borowes ye shal haue. a 1596 Sir T. More i. i, Followe me no further; I say thou shalt not haue them. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. vi. lxxvii, To morrow shall ye feast in pastures new. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. v. ii. ad fin., Well, 'fore George, you shan't say I do things by halves. 1777 ― Sch. Scandal ii. ii, Positively you shall not be so severe. 1833 Tennyson Death of Old Year, Old year, you must not go;..Old year, you shall not go. 1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley xi, If you would rather not stay then, you shall go down to South Kensington Square then.

    b. In third person.

c 1000 ælfric Gen. xviii. 10 Þin wif Sarra sceal habban sunu. 1310 St. Brendan (Bälz) 603 We wolleþ ous wel awreke, up him sulve it schal go. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 167 By goddes herte he sal nat scape us bathe. c 1422 Hoccleve Jereslaus's Wife 37 With goddes grace my comynge ageyn Shal nat be longe. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv. 129 Verona shall not hold thee. 1604 ― Oth. v. ii. 334 If there be any cunning Crueltie, That can torment him much,..It shall be his. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scandal i. ii, Though your ill-conduct may disturb my peace of mind, it shall never break my heart, I promise you. 1840 Thackeray Barber Cox Feb., Others, whose names may be found in the Blue Book, but shan't, out of modesty, be mentioned here. 1849 Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 174 The occasion of mentioning this gentleman's name shall be taken as an opportunity of describing his..form of the constant battery. 1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley xiv, ‘Oh, yes, sir, she shall come back,’ said the nurse. ‘I'll take care of that.’ ‘I will come back,’ said Vere.

    7. In special interrogative uses related to senses 5 and 6. a. In the first person, used in questions to which the expected answer is a command, direction, or counsel, or a resolve on the speaker's own part.
    (a) in questions introduced by an interrogative pronoun (in oblique case), adverb, or adverbial phrase.

c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. xxv, Cwæð he: Hwæt sceal ic singan? Cwæð he: Sing me frumsceaft. 971 Blickl. Hom. 169 Hwæt sceal ic ðonne ma secgean fram Sancte Iohanne..buton þæt [etc.]. c 1200 Ormin 9289 Whatt shule we nu forrþwarrd don? c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3358 ‘Louered’, quad he, ‘quat sal ic don? He sulen me werpen stones on’. a 1300 Cursor M. 11205 Quat schal [Trin., Laud, shulde] i tell yow, less or mare, Bot ihesu crist hir barn sco bar? c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. xi. 342 Frowhens schule we trowe this came, that so manye..false Apostlis..weren in the chirche. c 1450 Holland Howlat 69 Quhom sall I blame in this breth, a bysyn that I be? 1513 Douglas æneis i. vi. 38 Bot, O thou virgine, quham sall I call the? 1600 Fairfax Tasso viii. lxix, What shall we doe? shall we be gouern'd still, By this false hand? 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster i. i, How shall we devise To hold intelligence? 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxii, ‘It's rather slow work’, said he, ‘down here; what shall we do?’ 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxxiii, Where shall we stow the mare?

    (b) in categorical questions.
    Often expressing indignant reprobation of a suggested course of action, the implication being that only a negative (or, with negative question an affirmative) answer is conceivable.

1600 [see (a)]. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. iii. 83 Shall I draw the Curtaine? 1622 Wither Philarete (1633) I 7 Shall I wasting in Dispaire, Dye because a Womans faire? ? a 1700 D'Urfey Pills (1719) V. 113 Shall you and I Lady, Among the Grass lye down a. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scandal ii. iii, What! shall I forget..when I was at his years myself? 1802 Wordsw. To the Cuckoo i, O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird, Or but a wandering Voice? 1865 Swinburne Chastelard i. i. 22, I am bound to France; Shall I take word from you to any one? 1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley xiii, ‘Are you driving, or shall I call you a cab?’ ‘Oh, no; I'm driving, thanks’.

    ¶ (c) In ironical affirmative in exclamatory sentence, equivalent to the above interrogative use. (Cf. Ger. soll.) rare.

1741 Richardson Pamela (1742) III. 89 A pretty thing truly! Here I, a poor helpless Girl, raised from Poverty and Distress,..shall put on Lady-airs to a Gentlewoman born.

    † (d) to stand shall I, shall I (later shill I, shall I: see shilly-shally), to be at shall I, shall I (not): to be vacillating, to shilly-shally. Obs.

1674 R. Godfrey Inj. & Ab. Physic 85 Such Medicines..that will not stand shall I? shall I? but will fall to work on the Disease presently. c 1689 Popish Pol. Unmaskt 34 in Third Coll. Poems (1689) 23 Who follows him that standeth, shall I, shall I? 1727 Boyer Dict. Royal II. s.v., To be at shall-I shall-I, (to be at a stand, or in suspence).

    b. Similarly in the third person, where the subject represents or includes the speaker, or when the speaker is placing himself at another's point of view.

1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 22 Hast thou (which art but aire) a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions, and shall not my selfe, One of their kinde,..be kindlier mou'd then thou art? 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xxx. 6 O where now shall a man trust?

    c. In the second and third person, where the expected answer is a decision on the part of the speaker or of some person other than the subject.
    As in sense a, the question often serves as an impassioned repudiation of a suggestion that something shall be permitted.

c 1205 Lay. 13531 Wha scal an hirede beon ure lauerd Nu Vortiger is iuaren? 13.. in Ayenb. (1866) Descr. MS., Þe kyng Alesandre acsede hwan ssal þat be. 1382 Wyclif Ps. xii. 3 Hou longe shall ben enhauncid myn enemy vp on me? c 1450 Merlin i. 14 ‘What shalbe his name?’ ‘I will’, quod she, ‘that it haue name after my fader.’ c 1590 Montgomerie Sonn. liv. 2 Vhase praise, Apollo, sal my pen proclame? 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. ii. 11 What shall he haue that kild the Deare? 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. i. i. 97 And say, to which shall our applause belong, This new Court jargon, or the good old song? 1812 Crabbe Tales xviii, Shall a wife complain? 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lvi. 8 And he, shall he, Man,..Be blown about the desert dust, Or seal'd within the iron hills?

    d. In indirect question.
    In quot. 1470–85 irregularly in pres. tense when the principal clause is in pa. tense.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. v. §3 Þæt ic þonan onᵹietan mæᵹe hwonon ic þin tiliᵹe scyle & hu. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. x. 19 Nallað ᵹe ᵹeðence huu vel huæt ᵹe spreca scilo [quomodo aut quid loquamini]. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 638 Ne þenche ȝe neauer hwet ne hu ȝe schulen seggen. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 147 Þei stryuen not who schal be most meke. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xiii. (Gibbs MS.) lf. 32 He taught..vs in what manere þis vertue of mekenesse schal be goten. 1450 W. Lomner in Paston Lett. 5 May, The shreve of Kent..sent his under shreve to the juges to wete what to doo, and also to the Kenge whatte shalbe doo. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. xiii. 91 On the morne they fond letters of gold wryten how syr Gaweyn shalle reuenge his faders deth. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon viii. 181 That ye counseille me how I shall maye avenge me. a 1500 Tretyce of Husb. in W. Henley, etc. (R. Hist. Soc. 1890) 41 The vj chapitur tellithe nowe howe you shall lay youre lande at seede tyme. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 495 Harke what thou else shalt do mee. 1756 M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitland Club) 185, I beg to know..who I shall inform him inquired so kindly after him. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scandal iii. i, Let our future Contest be, who shall be most obliging. 1865 Kingsley Herew. x, Let her say what shall be done with it.

    8. As a mere auxiliary, forming (with present infinitive) the future, and (with perfect infinitive) the future perfect tense.
    In OE. the notion of the future tense was ordinarily expressed by the present tense. To prevent ambiguity, wile (will) was not unfrequently used as a future auxiliary, sometimes retaining no trace of its original sense. On the other hand, sceal (shall) even when rendering a Latin future, can hardly be said to have been ever a mere tense-sign in OE.; it always expressed something of its original notion of obligation or necessity. In ME. the present early ceased to be commonly employed in futural sense, and the future was expressed by either shall or will, the former being much more common. The usage as to the choice between the two auxiliaries has varied from time to time; since the middle of the 17th c. the general rule (subject to various exceptions) has been that mere futurity is expressed in the first person by shall, in the second and third by will. In indirectly reported speech, usage permits either the retention of the auxiliary used by the original speaker or the substitution of that which is appropriate to the point of view of the person reporting.
    a. In OE. sceal, while retaining its primary sense, served as a tense-sign in announcing a future event as fated or divinely decreed. Hence shall has always been the auxiliary used, in all persons, for prophetic or oracular announcements of the future, and for solemn assertions of the certainty of a future event.

a 900 Cynewulf Crist 1030 Sceal þonne anra ᵹehwylc fore Cristes cyme cwic arisan. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xiii. 5 Alle ᵹelic ᵹie sciolon losiᵹa, omnes similiter peribitis. c 1200 Ormin 211 Fra þiss daȝȝ þu shallt ben dumb. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 4039 Of ðe sal risen sterre briȝt. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5133 Hii ssolleþ ȝut keuery moche lond þat hii abbeþ y lore. c 1400 Brut lxix. 64 Ȝe shul bigete a douȝter þat shal be quene of Irland. c 1475 Partenay 2168 Thy contre shalt se put in exile all, Distroed, robbed. 1546 Heywood Prov. (1867) 43 That shalbe, shalbe. 1577 in Allen Martyrdom Campion (1908) 110 The queene neither ever was, nor is, nor ever shall be the head of the Church of England. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. i. 262 Now do I Prophesie..A Curse shall light vpon the limbes of men. 1653 W. Ramesey Astrol. Rest. 273 It signifies men shall be scoffers and jeerers one of another. 1746 Francis tr. Hor. Epist. ii. i. 26 No Prince so great, so wise, Hath ever risen, or shall ever rise. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 191 Whatever record leap to light He never shall be shamed. 1864 J. H. Newman Apol. 181 A General Council, truly such, never did, never shall err in a matter of faith. 1891 F. Thompson Sister-Songs (1895) 46 So it may be, so it shall be,—Oh, take the prophecy from me!

    b. In the first person, shall has, from the early ME. period, been the normal auxiliary for expressing mere futurity, without any adventitious notion. (a) Of events conceived as independent of the speaker's volition. (To use will in these cases is now a mark of Scottish, Irish, provincial, or extra-British idiom.)

c 1200 Ormin Ded. 143, I shall hafenn forr min swinnc God læn..Ȝiff þatt I..Hemm hafe itt inntill Ennglissh wennd. c 1205 Lay. 8371 Nu we sulleð for heore beone bliðe iwurðen. c 1300 K. Horn 1406 (Laud MS.) Þis lond we schollen winne And sle al þat þere ben inne. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xx. 67, I shalle dye a shameful deth. 1595 in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 357 My frend, yow and I shall play no more at Tables now. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. i. 1 When shall we three meet againe? 1613 ― Hen. VIII, i. iv. 44 Then wee shall haue 'em, Talke vs to silence. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 737, I..shall soon..rid heav'n of these rebell'd. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. ii. i, So—carry him off!.. We shall have him into a fever by-and-by. 1781 Johnson in Boswell (1904) II. 402 You cannot suppose that we shall rise with a diseased body. 1806 Wordsw. Addr. to a Child 39 He may work his own will, and what shall we care? 1822 Shelley Chas. I, i. 40 My travel's done,—Before the whirlwind wakes I shall have found My inn of lasting rest. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xvii, ‘But what if you don't hit?’ ‘I shall hit’, said George coolly. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola vi, Our personal characters will be attacked, we shall be impeached with foul actions.

    (b) Of voluntary action or its intended result. Here I (we) shall is always admissible exc. where the notion of a present (as distinguished from a previous) decision or consent is to be expressed (in which case will must be used). Further, I shall often expresses a determination insisted on in spite of opposition, and I shall not (colloq. I shan't) a peremptory refusal.
    In the 16th c. and earlier, I shall often occurs where I will would now be used.

c 1200 Ormin 11557 Icc shall beon aȝȝ occ aȝȝ wiþþ ȝuw Whil þatt tiss weorelld lassteþþ. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 396 We schulen bringen to ende Þat we bigunnen habbeð. a 1300 K. Horn 833 Ischal..Wiþ mi swerd wel eþe Bringe hem þre to deþe. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 621 Cherl! go oway, Oþer y schal þe smite. 1382 Wyclif Exod. xx. 19 Spek thow to vs, and we shulen here. a 1400 Sir Perc. 1466 A schafte salle I one hym sett, And I salle fonde firste to hitt. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 91 This now shall I alway kepe surely in memorye. 1601 Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 27 Informe him So 'tis our will he should.—I shall my liege. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 91, I shall begin my Discourse of this Russelet-pear by telling you [etc.]. 1779 Mirror No. 25, I..shall let my wife and daughters know, that I will be master of my own house. 1819 Shelley Cenci v. iii. 86 Say what ye will. I shall deny no more. 1833 [see sham v. 5]. 1885 Ruskin On Old Road II. 57 note, Henceforward..I shall continue to spell ‘Ryme’ without our wrongly added h.

    c. In the second person, shall as a mere future auxiliary appears never to have been usual in affirmative or negative senses (exc. in the uses treated under 9 b and 11); but in categorical questions it is normal: e.g. ‘Shall you miss your train? I am afraid you will.’
    d. In the third person. Obs. (superseded by will) exc. when another's statement or expectation respecting himself is reported in the third person, e.g. ‘He says he shall not have time to write.’ (Even in this case will is still not uncommon, but in some contexts leads to ambiguity; it is therefore preferable to use he shall as the indirect rendering of I shall.)

c 1200 Ormin Ded. 79 Þeȝȝ shulenn lætenn hæþeliȝ Off unnkerr swinnc. a 1300 Thrush & Night. 128 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 55 Come thou heuere in here londe, Hy shulen don the in prisoun stronge. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 56 Traist quhen thow will, For I trow and it be nocht swa, sum part salbe thyne. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 19 Parauenture in aduersite my power shal lak. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ii. 64 Yf your fader come agayn from the courte, he shall wyll yelde you to the kynge Charlemayne. 1581 E. Campion in Conf. ii. (1584) L iv, It shalbe he reported that I sayd this and that, and my wordes shalbe depraued. c 1656 Roxb. Ball. (1891) VII. 492 'Tis very like they shall be sent, soon after, to relieve you. 17.. Ramsay Some of the Contents ix, Montgomery's quatorsimes sall evir pleis. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth 361 The effect of the statute labour..has always been, now is, and probably shall continue to be, less productive than it might. 1837 Macaulay Ess., Bacon (1843) II. 406 That method leads the clown to the conclusion that if he sows barley he shall not reap wheat. 1850–8 Mill 3 Ess., Util. Relig. (1874) 92 People do not really believe that..they shall be punished by God, any more than by man.

    ¶ e. Down to the 18th c., shall, the auxiliary appropriate to the first person, was sometimes used when a person wrote of himself in the third person.
    Cf. the formula: ‘And your petitioner shall ever pray.’

1531 in Sel. Cases Crt. Requests (1898) 33 And your seid Orator shall dayly pray to Ihesu for the preseruacion of your most ryall grace. 1642 Chas. I's Wks. (1662) I. 203 (Though His Majesty shall be deeply..sensible of their sufferings) He shall wash His hands..from the least imputation of slackness. 1798 Kemble Let. in Pearson's Catal. (1900) 45 Mr. Kemble presents his respectful compliments to the Proprietors of the ‘Monthly Mirror’, and shall have great pleasure at being at all able to aid them.

    † f. In negative (or virtually negative) and interrogative use, shall often = ‘will be able to’. Obs.

a 1000 Guthlac 337 (Gr.) Hu sceal min cuman gæst to ᵹeoce, nemne ic gode sylle hyrsumne hiᵹe? a 1375 Joseph Arim. 104 Let breken hem a-two and bren hem al to pouder, Schaltou neuer gete grace þorwȝ none suche goddes. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 318 Ye shul nat plese hir fully yeres three, This is to seyn, to doon hir ful plesaunce. 1565–6 Abp. Parker Corr. (Parker Soc.) 263 If I draw forward, and others draw backwards, what shall it avail? c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxv, How with this rage shall beautie hold a plea. 1652 W. Blithe Eng. Improver Impr. ii. xxviii. (1653) 192 He shall never make a Plough to go with ease by his rules. 1773 [T. Day] Dying Negro 2 How shall I soothe thy grief, my destin'd bride!

    g. Used (after a hypothetical clause or an imperative sentence) in statements of a result to be expected from some action or occurrence. Now (exc. in the first person) usually replaced by will; but shall survives in literary use.

c 1205 Lay. 8018 Ȝif þu ileuest ælcne mon selde þu sælt wel don. a 1225 Ancr. R. 406 Weop for his sunnen. Þus þu schalt, seið Salomon, rukelen on his heaued bearninde gleden. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xcii. (1495) 840 Yf that matter towchyth a mannys body the heere shal fall. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xviii. 189 Ȝif ony thing falle in to that Lake, it schalle nevere comen up aȝen. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xiii. (Gibbs MS.) lf. 31 Ȝyfe we woleth hier take good entent we schull mowe see þat [etc.]. 1534 Tindale 1 Cor. xiv. 9 When ye speake with tonges..how shall it be vnderstonde what is spoken? For ye shall but speake in the ayer. 1594 Barnfield Affect. Sheph. (Arb.) 22 Who tutcheth pitch, with pitch shalbe defiled. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. ii. 144 You shall..show too bold malice Against the.. Person of my Master, Stocking his Messenger. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 118 ¶1, I shall disoblige Multitudes of my Correspondents, if I do not take Notice of them. 1851 G. W. Dasent Jest & Earnest (1873) II. 140 Visit Rome and you shall find him [the Pope] mere carrion. 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. §12 Make yourself noble, and you shall be. 1882 Harper's Mag. Dec. 24/2 Examine the book⁓shelves, and you shall find the novelist's favorite authors.

    h. In clause expressing the object of a promise, or of an expectation accompanied by hope or fear. Now only where shall is the ordinary future auxiliary; but down to the 19th c. shall was often preferred to will in the second and third persons. Cf. sense 11.

1475 J. Paston 22 Feb. in P. Lett., Iff the markett be nott goode yit, I hope it shall be better. c 1475 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 318 Ye schall swere that ye schall well and truelly byhaue you. 1508 Dunbar Flyting 111, I tak on me ane pair of Lowthiane hippis Sall fairar Inglis mak,..Than thow can blabbar with thy Carrik lippis. 1538 Starkey England i. i. 20 We are sure they schal bryng vs to our saluatyon. 1628 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 266 He is confident that the blood of Christ shall wash away..his..sins. 1643 in Mrs. A. Hope Franciscan Martyrs xiv. (ed. 3) 195, I hope nobody shall have any harme by anything I have saide, and for myself the worst they can doe to mee is the best and most desired. 1654 E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 142, I hope neither your Cosen Wat. Montagu nor..Walsingham shall be permitted to discourse..with..the D. of Glocester. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xv. iii, I hope his visits shall not be intruded upon me. 1820 Southey Wesley (ed. 2) I. 70, I trust in God your labour shall not be in vain.

    † i. In impersonal phrases, it shall be well, needful, etc. (to do so and so). Obs. (now will).

1571 Digges Pantom. i. xviii. F b, It shalbe needfull at the time of your measuring to haue ground at libertie on the one side. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. x. 90 It shall not be impertinent nor out of my purpose, if I do speak..of the kitchin of the great Turke. 1602 Dekker Satirom. Ad Lect. A 4 b, It shall not be amisse (for him that will read) first to beholde this short Comedy of Errors.

    † j. shall be, added to a future date in clauses measuring time. Cf. was in be v. 20. Obs.

1617 Sir T. Wentworth in Fortescue Papers 25 To which purpose my late Lord Chancelour gave his direction about the 3. of Decembre shallbe-two-yeares.

    9. In the idiomatic use of the future to denote what ordinarily or occasionally occurs under specified conditions, shall was formerly the usual auxiliary. In the second and third persons, this is now somewhat formal or rhetorical; ordinary language substitutes will or may. Often in antithetic statements coupled by an adversative conjunction or by and with adversative force. a. in the first person.

1712 Steele Spect. No. 326 ¶2 In spite of all my Care, I shall every now and then have a saucy Rascal ride by reconnoitring..under my Windows.

    b. in the second person.

c 1200 Ormin 423 Full cweme wærenn baþe..& tu shallt findenn swillke nu Bitwenenn uss well fæwe. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xx. 119 Thou schalt not fynde expresseli in Holi Scripture that the Newe Testament schulde be write in Englisch tunge to lay men. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 5 Sa plentifull is the ground, that mekle esier ȝe sall expone quhat it no{supt} beiris, than quhat it beiris. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Annot., You shall not finde one side in all the booke without some grosse errour or other. 1625 Bacon Ess., Atheism (Arb.) 333 You shall haue Atheists striue to get Disciples, as it fareth with other Sects. 1760 Impostors Detected i. iv. I. 26 He was as handsome a man, as you shall see on a summer's day. 1810 Crabbe Borough iii, A man so learn'd you shall but seldom see, Nor one so honour'd. 1852–4 Spencer Ess. (1858) 414 After knowing him for years, you shall suddenly discover that your friend's nose is slightly awry. 1909 Sat. Rev. 29 May 692/1 You shall meet ten thousand men every day in the year between the Bank and the Mansion House..who are as poor as Church mice.

    c. in the third person.

c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 236 Be þære frecnan coþe þe se mon his utgang þurh ðone muð..sceal aspiwan. He sceal oft bealcettan. 14.. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 271 Quan a chyld to scole xal set be, A bok hym is browt. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 39 If a father haue foure sonnes, three..well formed..the fourth..deformed, his choice shalbe, to put the worst to learning. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. iv. Columnes 234 Here-by the Printer, in one day shall rid More Books, then yerst a thousand Writers did. 1652 Feltham Low Countries 18 Your man shall be..saucy, and you must not strike him. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 23 ¶5 There is indeed something very..inhuman in the ordinary Scriblers of Lampoons. An Innocent young Lady shall be exposed, for an unhappy Feature. 1793 W. Roberts Looker-On (1794) III. 179 One man shall approve..the same thing that another man shall condemn. 1821 Lamb Elia i. My Relations, He has some speculative notions against laughter,..when peradventure the next moment his lungs shall crow like Chanticleer. 1870 M. Arnold St. Paul & Prot. 2 It may well happen that a man who lives and thrives under a monarchy shall yet theoretically disapprove the principle of monarchy. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 175 That which one shall hide away..another shall make an offensive challenge to the self-satisfaction of all his hearers.

    10. In hypothetical, relative, and temporal clauses denoting a future contingency, the future auxiliary is shall for all persons alike. (Where no ambiguity results, however, the present tense is commonly used for the future, and the perfect for the future-perfect; the use of shall, when not required for clearness, is apt to sound pedantic.)
    † Formerly sometimes used to express the sense of a present subjunctive.
    a. In hypothetical clauses.
    († shall I = ‘if I shall’. rare.)

c 1250 Owl & Night. 1683 Schille [v.r. schulle] ich an utest uppen ow grede, ich shal swo stronge ferde lede, Þat ower proude shal aualle. c 1300 Havelok 1782 Shol ich casten þe dore open, Summe of you shal ich drepen! 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xxiii. 13 If he shul bigile the brother, the gilte of hym vpon hym shal be. c 1400 Gamelyn 115 If I schal algate be beten anon, Cristes curs mot thou have but thou be that oon! 1588 [see c]. 1590 in C. S. Right Relig. A ij b, If your Worship shall read with patience and with great aduise see into the work. 1680 New Hampsh. Prov. Papers (1867) I. 388 If any Christian..shall speak contempteously of the Holy Scriptures,..such person..shall be punished. 1885 Tennyson Fleet 1 If you shall fail to understand, What England is..On you will come the curse of all the land.

    b. In relative clauses (where the antecedent denotes an as yet undetermined person or thing).

c 1200 Ormin 1205 Forrþi sinndenn alle þa Þatt shulenn inntill helle Effnedd wiþþ gæt. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 305 Alle ðo, ðe of hem sule cumen, sulen ermor in blisse wunen. 1382 Wyclif Luke x. 8 In to what euere citee ȝe schulen entre, and thei schulen receyue ȝou, ete ȝe tho thingis that ben put to ȝou. 1417–18 E.E. Wills (1882) 38 Eny goude þat schele be solde, yt ys my wyll þat Wyllyam Aluowe haue it. c 1450 Merlin 33, I go thider as thei shullen lede me. 1502 Bury Wills (Camden) 92, I will..vj s. viij d. to be delte in bedred men..ther where it xalbe moste nedefull. 1576 Aberdeen Reg. (1848) II. 26 To consent to sic uther thingis as selbe thocht expedient. 1665 in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. Var. Coll. IV. 244 Mr. Mayor is desired to..pay the fees that shalbe due to the officers. 1718 Rowe Lucan iii. 171 With humble Votes obedient they agree, To what their mighty Subject shall Decree. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xliii, I will lay all the spirits that shall attack me in the Red Sea. 1811 Southey Let. to G. C. Bedford 16 Feb. The minister who shall first become a believer in that book..will obtain a higher reputation than ever statesman did before him. 1874 R. Congreve Ess. 417 We extend our sympathies..to the unborn generations which..shall follow us on this earth.

    c. In temporal clauses.

1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. xi. 26 How ofte euere ȝe schulen ete this breed,..ȝe schulen schewe the deeth of the Lord, til he come. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 9 Whan y schal schewen myn schrift schent mote y worþen. c 1421 26 Pol. Poems 111/117 Whenne þou al þe world shal deme, Dampne me noȝt after my dede. 1480 Bury Wills (Camden) 67 And this to be doon as ofte as such case xall require. 1588 J. Udall Diotrephes (Arb.) 33 If this way shall be thought good, when there shalbe some aduice taken vpon it. 1655 Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 313 When you shall licence mee, I shall bee free. a 1763 W. King Pol. & Lit. Anecd. (1819) 159 The seat of happy souls; who, after they shall have continued in it the space of 10,000 years, will be removed to a more glorious orb. 1830 Laws of Cricket in Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor (1902) 20 If in striking, or at any other time, while the ball shall be in play, both his feet be over the popping-crease. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxxi, Pray St. Etheldreda to be with us when the day shall come. 1896 A. Austin England's Darling ii. iv, When War's loud shuttle shall have woven peace.

    11. In clauses expressing the purposed result of some action, or the object of a desire, intention, command, or request. (Often admitting of being replaced by may; in OE., and occas. as late as the 17th c., the pres. subj. was used as in Latin.) a. in final clause usually introduced by that.
    In this use mod. idiom prefers should (22 a): see quot. 1611 below, and the appended remarks.

c 1200 Ormin 7640, 1 Þiss child iss borenn her to þann Þatt fele shulenn fallenn, & fele shulenn risenn upp. c 1250 Owl & Night. 445 Bit me þat ich shulle singe vor hire luue one skentinge. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 156, I sall do swa thow sall be king. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 213 Thei gon under proteccioun, That love and his affeccioun Ne schal noght take hem be the slieve. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 289, I wil..schew ȝow what þis sacrament is, þat ȝe schullon in tyme comyng drede God þe more. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xiii. xv. 633 What wille ye that I shalle doo sayd Galahad. 1558 in J. M. Stone Hist. Mary I, App. 518 My mynd and will ys, that the said Codicell shall be accepted. 1611 Bible Luke xviii. 41 What wilt thou that I shall doe vnto thee? [So in Matt. xx. 32; ‘should’ in Mark x. 51; 1881 (Revised) has ‘should’ in all three passages. Coverdale (1535) has ‘shal’ in Matt., in the other gospels ‘that I do’.] c 1643 Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 139 Were it not better you shall cast away a few words, than I lose my life? 1698 in J. O. Payne Rec. Engl. Cath. 1715 (1889) 111 To the intent they shall see my will executed. 1829 Macaulay Mill on Govt. in Edin. Rev. Mar. 177 Mr. Mill recommends that all males of mature age..shall have votes. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxiv, We shall have the first of the fight, sir; and depend on it Boney will take care that it shall be a hard one. 1879 M. Pattison Milton xiii. 167 At the age of nine and twenty, Milton has already determined that this lifework shall be..an epic poem.

    b. in relative clause.

1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde Prol. (1552) B iij, The foundation & grounde, by the perceauerance wherof, your..vnderstanding shal be illuminat. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iv. 40 As Gardeners doe with Ordure hide those Roots That shall first spring. a 1631 Donne Paradoxes (1652) 35 To know those vertues require some Judgement in him which shall discerne. 1769 Johnson in Boswell (1904) I. 399 I'll take you five children from London, who shall cuff five Highland children. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. Ser. i. 287 To hit off that delicate mean between the fanciful and the prosaic which shall satisfy his taste.

    ** The past tense should with temporal function.
    † 12. Expressing a former obligation or necessity: = ‘was bound to’, ‘had to’. Obs.

Beowulf 10 (Gr.) He..weox under wolcnum..oð þæt him æᵹhwylc þara ymbsittendra ofer hronrade hyran scolde. Ibid. 704 Sceotend swæfon, þa þæt hornreced healdan scoldon. c 893 ælfred Oros. i. i. §14 Þa sceolde he ðær bidan ryhtnorþanwindes, for ðæm þæt land beaᵹ þær suþryhte. c 1205 Lay. 4301 Þer fore his mon he bicom & hærdsumnesse him solde don. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1326 Ysaac was leid ðat auter on, So men sulden holocaust don. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 77 In þe olde lawe weren þei wont to offre a lombe wiþouten wem, þe whiche shulde be of o ȝere. ? a 1400 Arthur 481 Arthour, as he scholde done, Sende lucyes body to Rome.

    † 13. In statements of what was formerly intended or settled to take place; = ‘was to’, or (contextually) ‘was about to’. Obs.

Beowulf 1443 (Gr.) Ᵹyrede hine Beowulf eorlᵹewædum..scolde herebyrne hondum ᵹebroden..sund cunnian. a 1000 Andreas 1132 (Gr.) Hæfdon æglæcan sæcce ᵹesohte, sceolde sweordes ecg..feorh acsiᵹan. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1000, His scipu wendon ut abuton Leᵹceastre and sceoldan cumon onᵹean hine, ac hi ne mihton. c 1205 Lay. 10322 Heo makeden enne hehne cniht heore here-toȝe..he heom scolde læden. c 1275 Passion our Lord 532 in O.E. Misc. 52 Seþþe hi dude heore sel vpe þene ston Lutel hi wiste wrecches hw hit sculde gon. a 1300 K. Horn 1412 Þe schup bigan to blenche, His lemman scholde adrenche. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 58 Whanne Abraham schulde have offrid Isaac..he hadde a greet ooþ to God. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) lix, Quo schuld his stede to stabulle haue? Knyȝte, squier, ȝoman, ne knaue, Nauthir with him he broȝte. 14.. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 273 Mary hys moder went þe weye To caluery þer he xuld deye. 14.. Three 15th Cent. Chron. (Camden) 78 The Egill on Poulis stepell was take downe.., but whan hit shulde be set up a yene he that shulde have set it up fell downe and was dede. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xlii. 24 The same friday that the batell shulde haue ben the french kynge..was sore dyspleased, bycause he departed without batayle. 1537 Matthew's Bible, Luke vii. 19 Arte thou he y{supt} shulde come: or shall we loke for another? 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 57 b, When he shoulde die [orig. moriturus]. Ibid. 433 The common assemble of thempire y{supt} shuld be holden at Auspurge. 1622 S. Ward Life of Faith (1627) 12 When hee should haue been tyed to the stake, he required to stand vntyed.

    14. Used in indirect reported utterances, or other statements relating to past time, where shall would be used if the time referred to were present. a. corresponding to shall in sense 5, 6, or 7.

Beowulf 691 (Gr.) Næniᵹ heora þohte, þæt he þanon scolde eft eardlufan æfre ᵹesecean. c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxix. 284 We cwædon ær ðæt se sceolde lytel sawan, se þe him ðone wind ondrede. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xiv. 40 Ignorabant quid responderent ei, ne wiston huæd scealdon onduearda him. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1070, Þæt land folc comen him ongean & griðedon wið hine, wændon þæt he sceolde þet land ofer gan. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 13 Vre drihten cweð to moyses þet he scolde wissien his folc. c 1205 Lay. 2079 He hehte þat luue scolde liðen heom bi⁓tweonen. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1937 A begger þer com in..; Þai seyd, he schuld nouȝt haue, Bot strokes & bismare. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 781 Ȝe ben soþli þe same of wham þei so tolde, Þat scholde lenge aftur lif in lastinge paine. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 57 The lawe of the Iewes was þen suche þat a woman þat was delyuerde of a man-chyld sculd be holden vnclene. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. lvii. 511 Yet wold not sire Launcelot telle me certeynte of you where I shold fynde yow. 1535 Coverdale Dan. iii. 19 He charched and commaunded, that the ouen shulde be made seuen tymes hoter. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 74 His Pypers were ready too rounde him in the eare, what he should speake. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. iv. 129 'Tis commanded I should do so. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 732 What shou'd He do, who twice had lost his Love? 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 249 He answer'd..That he would make Conditions with them..That they should be absolutely under my Leading. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 497 The husband and wife covenanted to levy a fine, which was thereby declared should be to the use of the cognizees and their heirs. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair vi, So long as his friend was enjoying himself, how should he be discontented? Ibid. xxi, Old Osborne thought she would be a great match, too, for his son. He should leave the army; he should go into Parliament. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 575 James was declared a mortal..enemy... No treaty should be made with him. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xxiv, After all, what had he done? Gone a little too far, perhaps,..but..no harm could come—no harm should come. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxv, Where were Sweyn and his Danes? Whither should they go till he came?

    b. corresponding to shall in sense 8.
    Here should is the auxiliary of the ‘anterior future’ or ‘future in the past’ tense. With perf. inf. it forms the ‘anterior future perfect’ or ‘future perfect in the past’.

c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 19 Heo wisten..þet he sculde cumen to þisse middeleard for ure neode. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 225 Wane he wolde iwite Ȝwat man þe child ssolde be þat he adde bi ȝete. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xliv. (Lucy) 109 Venand þat he suld at his weding þare-thru hafe doublyt al his thing. c 1450 Merlin i. 1 We ne trowed not that eny man myght be bore of woman, but that he sholde ben oures. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. xxxiii. 266, I made promyse vnto your lady that I shold yelde me vnto yow. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 694 He was sure that with the Erle of Warwike, he should haue no peace. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (Sommer) 255 b, She tolde him, that he should doo well to do so. 1620 Westward for Smelts (Percy Soc.) 11 He feared he was, or should be a cuckold. 1700 Dryden Ovid's Met., Acis, etc. 39 The Prophet Telemus..Foretold the Cyclops, that Ulysses hand In his broad eye shou'd thrust a flaming Brand. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 199 The French did thus set on the war between the English and the Dutch, hoping that our Fleets should mutually weaken one another so much, that [etc.]. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 114 Sectarians..would make a monopoly of the Saviour; they should shut him up into a conventicle. 1809 Syd. Smith Serm. II. 240 Joseph in the dungeon knew not that he should be the lord of Egypt. 1846 Mrs. Kirkland West. Clearings 129, I thought I never should have got out. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 279 He had expected that he should be able to push forward without a moment's pause. 1893 ‘Sarah Grand’ Heav. Twins (1894) 134 They never doubted but that they should discover him hard at work.

    c. in hypothetical, temporal, and final clauses, and relative clauses with hypothetical or final implication. (Cf. 10.)

Beowulf 965 (Gr.) Ic hine..heardan clammum..wriþan þohte, þæt he..scolde licgean lifbysiᵹ. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 175 He made on werlde al erue tame, ðe sulde him her..to fode, and srud. a 1300 Cursor M. 410 Hymself þan gaf us sample þare, Þat we suld hald it euer mare. 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 108 For þat enchesoun god ches oþur chef kinguus, Þat scholde maistrus be maad ouur mene peple. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 14 The tresor of the benefice, Wherof the povere schulden clothe And ete and drinke. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xiv. (Gibbs MS.) 34 Shewynge vs þe trewe wey wher by we schuld mowe come þer to. 1510 Sel. Cases Star Chamb. (Selden Soc.) II. 73 They wer bound..to reentre the seid prison when the seid Priour shulde commaunde them. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 47 Wtheris thocht that..he sould haue had sic men about him at his command as suld haue suppressed all oppressioun. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Udolpho xxv, Emily..determined to attempt the outer door of the turret as soon as Barnardine should withdraw. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxvii, He..resolved..to retire..until the tolling of the great castle-bell should announce the arrival of Elizabeth. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiii. V. 31 Clancarty was pardoned on condition that he should leave the kingdom. 1902 H. K. Mann Hist. Popes I. i. 35 They offered to submit their case to the emperor himself as soon as the Lombards should be overcome.

    d. In noun-clause dependent on expressions of willing, desiring, commanding, requesting, etc. (in the pa. tense). Similarly (esp. with the verb want) in the pres. tense (colloq., orig. and chiefly U.S. and in representations of Jewish speech). (Cf. 11 and 22 a.)

a 1000 Guthlac 636 (Gr.) Wendun ᵹe & woldun..þæt ᵹe scyppende sceoldan ᵹelice wesan in wuldre. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 310 God bebead Moyse,..þæt he and eall Israhela folc sceoldon offrian..an lamb anes ᵹeares. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1101, On þa ᵹerad..þet se eorl Rotbert..sceolde..þreo þusend marc seolfres habban. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1439 Het eft þe keiser þat me schulde Katerine bringen biforen him. a 1300 Cursor M. 381 Þe thrid day þat drightin..bad a dri sted suld be. a 1352 Minot Poems (ed. Hall) iii. 53 He cumand þan þat men suld fare Till Ingland. c 1400 Gamelyn 19 He sente hem word by lettres they schulden hye blyve. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 71 He comandyd that thou sholdest be put to deth. 1594 Ashley tr. Loys Le Roy 42 Aristotle did write vnto Calisthenes..that..he should diligently inquire of the antiquitie of the Chaldees. 1665 Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. iii. (1912) 245 His sweet highnes would not haue giuen it to your honour but that he intended you should doe good in it. 1780 Mirror No. 96 My parents..were determined I should have a good education. 1861 T. L. Peacock Gryll Grange xxxii, He had wished that the doctor should inquire into the cause of his trouble. 1891 ‘J. S. Winter’ Lumley xii, Blackwood had a not unreasonable desire that such an event should not come about.

1852, 1903 [see want v. 5 b]. 1920 W. D. Howells Vacation of Kelwyns 188 Want I should drive ye home? 1960 F. Raphael Limits of Love 3 You want we should go bankrupt? 1970 R. Millar Abelard & Heloise i. iii. 11 He asks you should go to him. 1978 J. Rosenthal Evacuees iv. 89 They want they should take you away.

    e. In statements of a former likelihood, unlikelihood, expectation, hope, fear, etc.
    In present usage the rules for the choice of the auxiliary are the same as apply to the future tense (see 8). Until the middle of the 19th c., however, should was common in this use in the second and third persons, where would is now normal.

1340 Ayenb. 12 Alle þon þet..storue..ine hope þet hi ssolden by y-borȝe be him uor þe zenne of the uerste manne. c 1489 [see fear v. 4 b]. 1653 D. Osborne Lett. (1888) 94 We could not reasonably hope he should outlive this day. 1671 tr. Palafox's Conq. China xvi. 312 [They] expected it should have defended it self better. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xiii. ix, He thought it most likely that some of his servants should be acquainted with the same secret. 1788 A. Hughes Henry & Isab. III. 94 From his age and infirmities it was not likely Lord Belford should live long. 1820 Shelley Ess. (1852) II. 232 There was no danger that it should become a model to the age of that false taste. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiv. III. 428 It was not to be expected that men who would not help themselves should help each other. 1867 Thirlwall Lett. (1881) II. 118 You had reason to expect that I should have returned the enclosed papers before now.

    f. In statements of what habitually occurred. (Cf. sense 9.) Now rare (? dial.).

1722 De Foe Col. Jack 23 Every now and then dropping asleep, I should dream that my money was lost. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 314 Sometimes we should have seven Fathom on one Side.

    15. a. Forming with the inf. a substitute for the pa. tense ind. (or, with perf. inf., for the pluperf.) in the oblique report of another's statement in order to imply that the speaker does not commit himself to the truth of the alleged fact. (The perf. inf. was often substituted for the pres. inf. merely in order to express the notion of past time more unambiguously. Obs. exc. dial.
    The corresponding use of shall (= G. soll, ‘is said to’) is not evidenced in Eng., the OE. instances alleged by Bosw.–Toller having apparently a different meaning.

c 888 ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §4 Ic wat þæt ðu ᵹeherdest oft reccan on ealdum leasum spellum þætte Iob Saturnes sunu..sceolde ricsian on heofenum. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xviii. 197 Fundon ða lease ᵹewitan þe forluᵹon naboð þæt he sceolde wyriᵹan wælhreowlice god. a 1122 OE. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1098, Ðises ᵹeares..æt Finchamstæde an mere blod weoll, swa swa maniᵹe trywe men sædan þe hit ᵹeseon sceoldan. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 6918 In edwite it worþ þe adrawe, Swiche a man þou schust haue slawe. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 7 In othir bokes..is told that Adam schuld a sent Seth onto the gates of Paradyse for the oyle of mercy. 1472 Sir J. Paston 4 Nov. in P. Lett., Thys daye rennyth a tale that the Duke of Bretayne sholde be ded. I beleeff it not. 1506 Engl. Misc. (Surtees) 52 Oon Bartrame Dawson of the citie of York..is senysterly defamed that he shulde be a Scottysshman borne. 1518 Sel. Cases Star Chamb. (Selden Soc.) II. 137 They harde one Thomas Wynwyck say that he shuld here John Sucklyng say that [etc.]. 1561 in Froude Engl. Seamen (1895) 26 When I was arraigned I was charged that I should say our mass was as good as theirs. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 174 It was alledgit that my lord of Arrane in his mirienes sould oppin this consperacie. a 1586 Sidney Apol. Poetry (Arb.) 51 To the second [sc. imputation]..that they should be the principall lyars; I aunswere..that of all Writers vnder the sunne, the Poet is the least lier. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 182 But didst thou heare without wondering, how thy name should be..carued vpon these trees? 1663 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 92 There are some rumors that the conspirators should have taken some other places. 1764 Museum Rust. II. 134 My neighbour,..being told that I should say I would do for them, charged me with destroying them. 18.. Let. in Sir J. T. Coleridge Mem. Keble (1869) 64 Some one raised a report that he should say that herring and potatoes were good enough for anyone. 1822 Scott Nigel xv, They had a braw sport in the presence last Friday, how ye suld have routed a young shopkeeper. 1886 W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v. Should, I zeed Mr. Jones, and he zaid how you should zay I told ee that there zeed come vrom he.

    ¶ b. with omission of the have of the perf. inf.

c 1465 Eng. Chron. (Camden) 63 The peple..demed that it sholde betokened sum harm sone aftirward. a 1566 Hist. Estate Scot. (Wodrow Soc. Misc.) 71 It appeared that they should matched.

    16. In indirect question relating to a past matter of fact. Obs. exc. arch.
    Present usage prefers the pa. tense or perf.; when the notion of uncertainty is emphasized, might or could is used instead of the earlier should.

a 1300 Cursor M. 4931 Þe folk asked quat þai suld be, ‘Theues,’ coth ioseph. Ibid. 21579 And quatkin tre it suld ha bene His eldres tald him all be-dene. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxiii. 84 (Harl. MS.), Þere was no man cowde discryve wheþer of hem shuld be Emperour. 1530 Tindale Prol. Hebr. Wks. (1573) 56/1 About this epistle hath euer ben much doubting..who should be the authour thereof. 1534 ― Mark ix. 10 They..demaunded one of a nother, what the rysinge from deeth agayne shuld meane. 1640 Yorke Union Hon. 122 Who should be the mother I find not mentioned by M. Vincent. 1704 N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. II. 19 The Assembly were wondring what should be the meaning of it. 1851 Keble Occas. Papers (1877) 238 Some..may have wondered what this ‘present distress’ should mean.

    17. In questions introduced by who, whom, what, and followed by but, serving to express the unexpectedness of some past occurrence.

1626 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xxi. v, Whiles his hart is taken vp with these thoughts, who should come ruffling by him, but..Haman. 1833 Tennyson May Queen iv, As I came up the valley whom think ye should I see, But Robin? 1842 Browning Pied Piper iv, Just as he said this, what should hap At the chamber door but a gentle tap? 1945 R. Gibbings Lovely is Lee xxvii. 133 On the 23rd of March 1889 who should be born in Cork but myself?

    *** The past tense should with modal function.
    As with other auxiliaries, the pa. tense (orig. subjunctive) of shall is often used to express, not a reference to past time, but a modal qualification of the notion expressed by the present tense. Where in addition the notion of past time is to be expressed, this can often be effected by the use of the perf. instead of the pres. inf. (though sometimes this produces ambiguity); the temporal notion may however be merely contextually implied, and in that case the pa. tense has the appearance of having both functions (temporal and modal) at once.
    18. a. In statements of duty, obligation, or propriety (originally, as applicable to hypothetical conditions not regarded as real). Also, in statements of expectation, likelihood, prediction, etc.
    This conditional form of expression was from an early period substituted for the unconditional shall in sense 2, and in mod.Eng. the pres. tense in this use is obs., and should = ought to.

Beowulf 2708 (Gr.) Swylc sceolde secg wesan, þeᵹn æt ðearfe. c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. iv. 36 Ðonne mon forlet ðone eᵹe..þe he mid ryhte on him innan habban sceolde. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 21 We scolden halden his heste us bitwenan. c 1275 Passion our Lord 472 in O.E. Misc. 50 Þu ne schuldest nouht þi wryt habben iwryte so. c 1315 Shoreham i. 749 He despyseþ ihesu cryst, Wanne he hym scholde herye. c 1350 Will. Palerne 3685 Whi make ȝe þis sorwe? ȝe schuld now make ȝow merie. 1411 Rolls of Parlt. III. 650/2 He knoweth wel that..he ne hath noght born hym as he sholde hav doon. ? c 1570 Misogonus iii. i. 189 (Brandl) Thoughe I sait and shoulde not sait. 1607–12 Bacon Ess., Counsel (Arb.) 318 Neither is it necessarye, that he that consulteth what he should doe, should declare what he will doe. 1756 M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitland Club) 214 Some men should have been women, and he, I think, is one. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxii, Conquest, lady, should soften the heart. 1845 Poe Tales, Gold Bug, I draw tolerably—should do it at least—have had good masters. 1896 Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 616/2 He should have looked up and down the line before he ventured to cross it.

1922 Galsworthy Loyalties iii. i. 82 ‘Mr. Twisden's not in, then?’..‘No. He's at the Courts. They're just up; he should be in directly.’ 1954 Wodehouse & Bolton Bring on Girls viii. 101 ‘It will run a bit short, I suppose, but it should have a wide appeal.’ ‘Very wide,’ said Guy. ‘You've got a winner.’ 1961 E. F. Schumacher in Small is Beautiful (1973) ii. iii. 117 Proved oil reserves should be enough for forty years. 1963 ‘J. le Carré’ Spy who came in from Cold x. 94 A couple of weeks should see you through. 1966 T. Frisby There's a Girl in my Soup i. 2 That blanket should be warm by now. 1970 R. Millar Abelard & Heloise i. ii. 27 A makeshift effort, but it should serve. Ibid. xiv. 35 Master Simon says he should be up in a week.

Phrases. 1764 Mrs. Sheridan Journ. to Bath i. i, That same Lord Stewkly is no better than he should be, (between ourselves). 1780 Mirror No. 104 Every woman who passed much of her time in town, he made no scruple to say, was no better than she should be. 1829 Carlyle in Edin. Rev. June 458 This is as it should be; for not in turning back,..but only in resolutely struggling forward, does our life consist. 1860 J. W. Palmer tr. M. J. Michelet's Love iv. i. 184 The mother lives entirely in that cradle; the world is as nothing to her. This is as it should be, for it is the saving of the babe.

    ¶ with omission of have in perf. inf.

a 1529 Skelton Agst. Scottes 106 Regarded ye should your lord. 1561 Godly Q. Hester (1873) 23 And they that should assisted, I wote not how they were brysted. c 1730 Ramsay Wyfe of Auchtermuchty xv, Scho fand all wrang that sould been richt.

    b. should be: ought according to appearances to be, presumably is. Also, ought according to expectation to be, presumably will be (cf. sense 18 a).

1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 45 You should be Women, And yet your Beards forbid me to interprete That you are so. 1631 Heywood 2nd Pt. Fair Maide West iv. i, Pursue the Ruffin,..He should be Captain of those bloody theevs, That haunts our mountains. 1661 Cosin Corr. (Surtees) II. 36, I saw a letter to-day which tells us that the great Presbyterian preacher in London is silenced; but the letter names him not. I guesse it should be Mr. Baxter. 1821 Byron Cain i. i. 365, I have heard it said, That seraphs love most—cherubim know most—And this should be a cherub—since he loves not. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho! II. ix. 249 That should be Barbados..unless my reckoning is far out.

    c. you should hear, see = I wish you could hear, if only you could hear, etc.

1811 Lady Granville Let. 6 Oct. (1894) I. 21 You should have heard the shout when he said by mistake, [etc.]. 1842 Tennyson Walking to Mail 63 You should have seen him wince As from a venomous thing. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. v, Ah! but you should just have seen the fight between Slogger Williams and Tom Brown! 1908 Belloc Cautionary Tales for Children 26 That Night a Fire did break out—You should have heard Matilda Shout! 1971 S. Gray Butley ii. 58 But you should see our flat. Even Joey's room is like a pigsty.

    d. Used ironically, expressing the inappropriateness or unlikeliness of the action advocated or state envisaged, as I should worry, there is no reason for me to worry, I am not worried. colloq. (orig. a Yiddishism).

1892 Kipling Naulakha xiii. 154 [Amer. loq.] I should murmur!.. It makes me feel good all over. 1906 F. H. Burnett Shuttle (1907) xxxviii. 381 ‘Hope you had a fine time, Mr. Selden?’ ‘Fine! I should smile! Fine wasn't in it.’ 1914 ‘High Jinks, Jr.’ Choice Slang 13 I should worry, I do not care. 1929 ‘E. Queen’ Roman Hat Myst. vi. 80 ‘Well,’ grinned the District Attorney, ‘I carry a lot of insurance, so I should worry.’ 1937 D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon x. 224 ‘You watch your step, Polly. Maybe 'e's married three times a'ready.’ ‘I should worry,’ said the girl, with a toss of the head. 1945 A. Kober Parm Me 155 ‘The cilling you think he's going to fix?’ ‘You should live so long!’ he'll say. 1957 N.Y. World-Telegram 13 Sept. 22/5 All I ask of these scientists is that they put in writing their guarantee that insects will get us yet. We should be so lucky. 1967 V. C. Welburn Johnny So Long ii. iii. 76 Don't try to digest everything at once. Hell, I should talk. 1970 M. O'Brine Crambo lxiii. 170 If that's the best their gunners can do, we should worry. Ibid. lvii. 230 ‘It's your life,’ said Waterhouse. ‘I should live that long,’ said Gesing. 1975 R. Rendell Shake Hands for Ever iii. 29 They both came in at about ten—my God, I should be so lucky!

    19. In the apodosis of a hypothetical proposition (expressed or implied), indicating that the supposition, and therefore its consequence, is unreal. a. Where shall (in sense 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9) would be used if the hypothesis were accepted.

1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1137, Wel þu myhtes faren all a dæis fare sculdest thu neure finden man in tune sittende. a 1225 Ancr. R. 332 Ȝif ure Louerd demde him al efter rihtwisnesse..wo scholde him iwurðen. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 194 Hadde he wel loked him wið skil, Ilc beste sulde don his wil. a 1300 K. Horn 347 Þanne scholde wiþuten oþe Þe kyng maken vs wroþe. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 47 Pacience..venquysseth..Thynges þat rigour sholde neuere atteyne. 1408–9 26 Pol. Poems (1904) 32 And it were soþ þat clerkis telle, ffewe folkes shulde come in heuene. 1535 Fisher Wks. (1876) 384 If one deadly sin were found in their soules, they shuld incontinent be throwen into the darke dungeon of hell. 1581 in Allen Martyrd. Campion (1908) 35, I will not belie myself, for so should I condemne my owne soule. 1601 B. Jonson Poet. iii. i. 183 You shoo'd see mee [sc. dance], were it not i' the street. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iv. 62 If she lost it,..my Fathers eye Should hold her loathed. 1718 Earl Cowper in J. Duncombe Lett. (1773) I. 198 You and your horse should have been very welcome. 1779 Johnson in Boswell (1904) II. 308 We should have robbed the Scotch, if they had had any thing of which we could have robbed them. 1790 Cowper Let. to Lady Hesketh 8 Mar., I should be unreasonable indeed not to be highly gratified by it. 1802–12 Bentham Judic. Evid. (1827) II. 404 Cross-examination..a term for which..one should have expected to have found an equivalent in every language. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xli, I often think we should all be better without it. 1878 O. W. Holmes Motley 37 He knew that he should not have been satisfied with himself, if he had not made it. 1878 M. E. Braddon Open Verd. vi, After this, I shouldn't be at all surprised at his going over to Rome. 1887 Browning Parleyings, B. de Mandeville iv, So should wrong merely peep abroad to meet Wrong's due quietus.

interrogatively. 1834 K. H. Digby Mores Cath. v. iii. 84 But where should one finish if one were to speak of the ‘lauda Sion’ [etc.].

    b. When the pres. tense of the principal vb. would be used if the hypothesis were accepted. (Where the pa. tense or the perf. would be used, should is followed by the perf. inf.)
    In this use the combination of should with inf. forms a periphrastic past subjunctive: thus ‘I should be’ = the archaic ‘I were’. Similarly with perf. inf.: ‘Then I should have been’ = ‘then had I been’.
    The choice between should and would follows the same rules as that between shall and will as future auxiliaries, except that should must sometimes be avoided on account of liability to be misinterpreted as = ‘ought to’ (sense 18). In present Eng. should occurs mainly in the first person; in the other persons it follows the rule for shall in 8 c, d.

c 1430 Two Cookery Bks. 45 Bete alle to-gederys as þikke as þou schuldyst make oþer bature in fleyssche tyme. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 337 Thei scholde haue writen more circumspectely, if they hade seide [etc.]. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 1534 Nyne oxen of that lond Shold not drawe the tre. 1467 Marg. Paston 11 July in P. Lett., Thei set not be a woman as thei shuld set be a man. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 35, I haue so grette scatte and good of syluer.. that seuen waynes shold not conne carye it away. c 1489 ― Sonnes of Aymon xvi. 377 Yf it had be at our wyll ye sholde have had goode peas wyth the kyng charlemagn. 1753 Challoner Cath. Chr. Instr. 91 At the Confiteor..I should advise the Assistants to an humble Confession of their Sins to God. 1882 ‘L. Keith’ Alasnam's Lady III. 284, I shouldn't know how to begin. 1908 Bagot A. Cuthbert v. 42, I should say that Aunt Jane..is perfectly right in regarding me..as an intruder.

    ¶ with omission of have in perf. inf.

1585 Norden Sinful Mans Solace 25 b, Then should not thus my silly soule Bene wrapt in irkesome woe.

    c. With verbs of liking, preference, etc., should in the first person (and interrogatively in the second) is regarded as more correct than would, though this is often used.
    In the third person should is used only in indirect speech (when he represents I); uses like quot. 1862 are abnormal.
    The forms I should have liked to (see) and I should like to have (seen) are alternative ways of adding the temporal notion to the modal sense of should. Another form, sometimes met with, but certainly faulty, is I should have liked to have (seen).

1779 Boswell Johnson (1904) II. 308 Should you not like to see Dublin, Sir? 1785 J. Trusler Mod. Times III. 81 Should you like any thing up stairs, or would you prefer it in the kitchen? 1838 Macaulay Ess., Sir W. Temple (1843) III. 98 Corneille was said to unite the merits of æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. We should like to see a Prometheus after Corneille's fashion. 1860 Ruskin Unto this Last i. §21, I should like the reader to be very clear about this. 1862 G. C. Lewis Lett. (1870) 418 One should like to know what it was that they numbered. 1869 Freeman in W. R. W. Stephens Life (1895) I. 427, I should like to have stayed longer at Noyon.

erroneous use. 1883 L. Oliphant Altiora Peto I. 8, I should much preferred to have seen you there.

    d. The original conditional notion is obscured in the phrases it should seem (see seem v. 7 f); one should think (now somewhat arch. and perh. sometimes interpreted in the sense of 18). Similarly I should think (suppose, etc.) = ‘I am inclined to think (suppose, etc.)’; also colloq. as a strong affirmation in reply to a tentative suggestion, e.g. ‘I should (rather) think he did object’.
    In the last phrase (as used idiomatically), would is never substituted; in the second person the phrase is used only in questions, and in the third person only in oblique narration.

1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 79 Hit scholde seme to a man beholdenge the fundacion of hit that werke to be rather of the labor of..Romanes, then of Britones. 1508 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. i. Wks. (1876) 15 It sholde seme that he was create of god but in vayne. 1577 J. Aylmer in H. N. Birt Eliz. Relig. Settlem. (1908) x. 465 note, He hath divers Agnus Dei [etc.]... It should appear that he hath bestowed many, and these be the refuses. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 195, I should thinke, that these old ornaments are taken away. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 249 It should seeme that nature herselfe hath armed this people, in giving them the Iron Mines of Biskay, Guipuscoa, and Medina. 1741 C'tess of Hertford Corr. (1805) III. 324 So vast a stock of vivacity..one should think, could only proceed from a head and heart entirely at ease. 1775 C. Johnston Pilgrim 105, I should rather think he has a mind to finger its finances. 1835 Macaulay Ess., Sir Jas. Mackintosh (1843) II. 261 It might, one should think, have crossed the mind of a man of fifty, who had seen a great deal of the world. 1856 ― Johnson Misc. Writ. (1882) 321/2 It should seem that a full half of Johnson's life, during about sixteen years, was passed under the roof of the Thrales. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. vi, ‘You remember when first Mr. Lammeter's father came into these parts, don't you, Mr. Macey?’.. ‘I should think I did.’ 1889 Swinburne Study B. Jonson 4 That singing power..was not, it should seem, a natural gift of this great writer's.

    † e. should have been = ‘would have had to be’: see 3 b. (In quot. with omission of have.)

15.. Christ's Kirk xvii, He suld bene swift that gat him Throw speid.

    f. I should (do so and so): orig. with expressed or understood protasis ‘if I were you’, but in mod. colloquial language often used loosely = ‘I would advise you to (do, etc.)’.

1908 R. Bagot A. Cuthbert iii. 19, I should get her back as soon as you can, otherwise perhaps the painter will marry her!

    20. In a hypothetical clause expressing a rejected supposition. † a. Where should has notional force = ‘were obliged to’, ‘must’, ‘were about to’. Often with ellipsis of if after as. Obs.
    With the use as in quot. 1530 cf. the modern ‘as if his heart would break’.

1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4306 Devels aftir sal bere hym..In-til þe ayre als he suld stey to heven. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 132 No dedly sunne to do dyȝe þauȝ þou scholdest. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10795 Þai drepit in dole, as þai degh shuld. 1526 Tindale Matt. xxvi. 35 Yff I shulde dye with the [Gr. κ{aaspergrave}ν δέῃ µε σὺν σοὶ ἀποθανεῖν] yet wyll I not denye the. 1529 More in Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. (1893) 12 If I shold not leave myself a spone, there shall no poore neighbour of mine bere no losse by any chance happened in my house. 1530 Palsgr. 724/1 The poore boye sobbed, as his herte shulde brust. 1568 Satir. Poems Reform. xlvi. 34 Na pedderis pak scho will ressaif, Althocht hir travell scho sowld tyne.

    b. Where the future tense (or the present with future import) would be used if the supposition were entertained. (With pa. tense subjunctive, usually should or would, also could, might, arch. were, etc., in the apodosis. Cf. 21.) Now somewhat rare, mod. usage preferring were to.

c 1520 Everyman 146 (Pollard) Yf I sholde this pylgrymage take,..Shewe me,..Sholde I not come agayne shortly? 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. ii. 237 Me thinkes there would be no period to the iest, should he not be publikely sham'd. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 53 If he should forbear to go She might conclude h'had broke his Vow. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 176 If any Misfortune should attend the Vessel,..we should be put very hard to it for a Subsistence. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia ix. i. (1882) II. 298 Should I think, sir, to eternity,..I could never conjecture what you mean! 1884 Tennyson Becket iii. i, And no flower, not The sun himself, should he be changed to one, Could shine away the darkness of that gap.

    † c. With reference to the past (e.g. ‘if he should have done’ = if he had done). Obs.

1576 J. Knewstub Confut. etc. (1579) R 7 The gift had beene exceeding great, if wee should haue had no more at his hands, then [etc.]. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. i. 8 If you Should haue tane vengeance on my faults, I neuer Had liu'd to put on this.

    d. In relative clause with hypothetical import.

1800 C. Butler Life Alban Butler xvi, A person would deserve well of the English Catholics who should translate it into English. 1843 Macaulay Ess., Addison (1853) III. 420 Pope writing dialogue resembled..a wolf, which, instead of biting, should take to kicking. 1886 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Paston Carew xxxii, The bank was perfectly solvent. He who should have said otherwise..would have been made to eat his libellous talk [etc.].

    e. as who should say [cf. F. comme qui dirait] = as much as to say. arch. Also † as if he should say (should have said).

1551 T. Wilson Logic (1580) 70 It is asmuche as who should saie: He that made thee, without thee, can not saue thee without thee. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 251 Then one of them behelde another, as who should say, who is he that dare go foorth to cary this message. 1600 C. Sutton Disce Mori (1607) x. 168 He declared as thus, his integrity of life: Behold here I am, beare record of mee... As if hee should haue sayd, Giue me my Quietus est at parting. 1641 J. Shute Sarah & Hagar (1649) 112 Some conceive the Apostle to use that phrase by way of excellency, (as if he should haue said), though I were of the most excellent elocution. 1687 R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times i. 150 As who should say; 'tis e'en a Mercy that we have not had All our Throats Cut. 1883 Sherer At Home & in India 110 Rameshur bowed his head, following the action by two or three affirmative nods, as who should say, ‘Yes, yes’ [etc.].

    21. a. In a hypothetical clause relating to the future, should takes the place of shall (indicative or subjunctive), or of the equivalent use of the present tense, when the supposition, though entertained as possible, is viewed as less likely or less welcome than some alternative. (With future, future perf., or imperative in the apodosis.)

1675 H. Woolley Gentlew. Comp. 247, I shall swell this Volume into too great a bulk, should I give you patterns of Letters for all occasions. 1791 Cowper Let. 13 June, Should I thunder ever so loud, no efforts of that sort will avail me now. 1842 Tennyson Lady Clare xii, ‘And he shall have it’, the lady replied, ‘Tho' I should die to-night.’ 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 50 Should any soluble salt remain it will be soda. 1896 A. Austin England's Darling i. iii, And, should the looked for shock be on us soon, I must be there!

    b. Similarly, with perf. inf., in a hypothetical clause relating to what may have happened in the past.

1794 Windham in Eng. Hist. Rev. Oct. (1912) 714 Let me recall to your recollection the business of Mr. Burke, in case it should not have been mentioned to you by Mr. Dundas.

    22. In a noun-clause (normally introduced by that). a. In dependence on expressions of will, desire, command, advice, request.
    Where the verb of the governing clause is in the pa. tense, this use is indistinguishable from that treated in 14 d.
    The substitution of should for the earlier shall (itself a periphrastic substitute for the more primitive use of the pres. subjunctive: see 11 a) may have arisen from instances in which the governing vb. was in the modal pa. tense (as in quots. c 1200, 1340).

c 1200 Ormin Ded. 133, I wollde bliþeliȝ Þatt all Ennglisshe lede Wiþþ ære shollde lisstenn itt. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 420 Manie gon nakede and bidde þat sum man heom scholde biweue. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1625 Þai luf swa þis worldes vanyté Þat þai wald never other lyfe suld be. 1482 Cely Papers (Camden) 94 My emer & I be agreed that I schold have xi li. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. ix. §3 Their iudgment is..that the Church of Christ should admit no Law-makers but the Euangelists. 1611 [see 11 a]. 1746 Francis tr. Hor., Sat. i. ix. 12 ‘What's your will with me?’—‘That one of your profound discerning Should know me’. 1819 in Moore Mem. (1853) III. 77 Chantrey..wishes I should sit to Bartolini. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. i. ix, ‘I would much rather she did not come’, said Fanny... ‘I would rather she should come’, said the squire. 1883 St. James's Gaz. 25 Aug., It is suggested that the black bass..should be acclimatized in these waters. 1887 L. Oliphant Episodes 41, I found it to contain a request..that I should repair..to the Horse Guards.

    b. In statements relating to the necessity, justice, propriety, etc. of something contemplated as future, or as an abstract supposition.

1527 Wolsey in St. Papers Hen. VIII (1830) I. 195, I think convenient..Your Grace shuld handle her both gently and doulcely. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 133 It is aganes the lawis of haly kirk that thow souldest be ane preist and marie ane wyff. 1641 Milton Animadv. 65 It is most just, that all their faults should be imputed to yee. 1724 Ramsay Vision xx, Quhats proper we suld know. 1780 Mirror No. 75, It is of high national importance that the very earliest notice should be given of the near appearance of a figure-dancer. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 326 We are now to consider the time at which it is requisite a contingent remainder should vest in interest. 1855 Tennyson Maud iii. iii, It is time..That old hysterical mock-disease should die.

    c. In expressions of surprise or its absence, approval or disapproval, of some present or past fact.

c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 6803 Woleway..Þat ich euer schuld sen Þus miche rewþe on erþe ben! c 1440 Generydes 35 Gret pite that she..Shuld sette hyr wurchippe atte so litill prise. 1508 Dunbar Poems iv. 91 Gud Maister Walter Kennedy,..lyis veraly, Gret reuth it wer that so suld be. 1580 R. Parsons Brief Disc. 1 b, So was it no meane comforte..to consider..that their should be fownde in Ingland so many gentlemen..so precyse [etc.]. 1650 Eliz. Cromwell 27 Dec. in Carlyle Cromwell, I wonder you should blame me for writing no oftener, when I have sent three for one. 1780 Mirror No. 92 That folly and ugliness should thrust themselves forward to public notice, might be matter of surprise. 1817 Keats I stood tip-toe 44 It may haply mourn That such fair clusters should be rudely torn From their fresh beds. 1820 Southey Wesley I. 199 It is somewhat remarkable, that Wesley should have said nothing of their customs respecting matrimony. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lxi, The coachman, who grumbled that his 'osses should be brought out.

    ¶ with omission of have in the perf. inf.

1537 Wriothesley's Chron. I. 119 Which was great pitie that so good a ladie as she is should so sone lost her great joy.

    d. In clause dependent on sentence (negative, interrogative, or hypothetical) expressing possibility, probability, or expectation.
    Cf. ‘Is it possible that he should do this?’ with ‘It is possible that he may do this’. Similarly, ‘It is unlikely that he should have been there’, but ‘It is likely that he was (or may have been) there’.

1600 Fairfax Tasso viii. lxxix, Perchance you look I should entreaties bring. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vii. xv, The Reader may, perhaps, expect..that..she should immediately have interposed in his Behalf. 1780 Mirror No. 104 It is..vain to expect, that persons in that rank of life should be able to withstand the attractions of a court. 1824 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. 1846 I. 187 The popes..were under no apprehension that the new religion should itself be subverted. 1850 Thirlwall Lett. (1881) I. 198, I think it is quite impossible that I should not at least have looked into it enough to remember having seen it.

    e. In clause (now almost always with lest) expressing the object of fear or precaution.

1402 Hoccleve Let. of Cupid vii, They [sc. women] graunte hem grace..for that men shulde nat for her sake dey. c 1440 Jacob's Well 107 Þou leuyst almesse-dede fro þe poore for dreed þat þou schuldyst after fallyn in pouert. 1594 Lyly Mother Bombie i. i, She is mewed vp..least she should by some roisting courtier be stollen away. 1686 Parr Life Usher 81 Which he..was much concerned at, for fear he should have neglected his duty. 1753 Challoner Cath. Chr. Instr. 117 In such Cases 'tis much to be feared, lest their Self-love should biass their Judgment. 1777 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 202 The subject is melancholy, and I am afraid it should give you the vapours. 1857 Borrow Rom. Rye xl, However, lest conversation should lag, I'll give it you. 1893 F. Thompson Poems 5 Others shall fear lest, heavened thus long, Thou should'st forget thy native song.

    23. In special interrogative uses. a. In questions introduced by why (or equivalent word), implying the speaker's inability to conceive any reason or justification for something actual or contemplated, or any ground for believing something to be fact.

971 Blickl. Hom. 69 To hwon sceolde þeos, smyrenes þus beon to lore ᵹedon? a 1300 Cursor M. 461 Qui suld I him seruis yeild? c 1420 Avow. Arth. xxxiii, I conne notte say the ther-tille, Hit is atte the quene wille, Qwi schuld I layne? 1528 More Dyaloge i. xxvii. (1529) G vj b/2 Yf we fell at dyuers oppynions, why shuld thae tone parte more beleue the tother, than be beleuyd of the tother. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus H ij, Why then shouldest not thou aswell deceyue me as others? c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. li, From where thou art, why should I hast me thence. 1779 Mirror No. 21 They tell us, ‘that men have one common original, and why should relations quarrel?’ 1791 Cowper Let. to W. Bagot 5 Dec., Why should you suppose that I did not admire the poem you showed me? I did admire it. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. Introd. Addr. ¶38 Why should not the same triumph be repeated now? 1890 ‘L. Falconer’ Mlle. Ixe i, ‘I do hope she will not be dull’, said Evelyn... ‘Why should she be dull?’

    b. In questions introduced by how, implying that the speaker regards something as impossible or inadmissible.

c 1200 Vices & Virtues 65 Hu scolde godd, oðer ani of his halȝen,..hauen rewðe..of ðe, seððen ðu ðe seluen ne hafst nu hier none of ðe seluen? 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 732 How shulde y þan be meke to ȝow? a 1375 Joseph Arim. 83 Hou scholde I gon with childe with-oute felau⁓schupe of mon? a 1400 Pistill of Susan 46 (MS. P.), Þei wold enchaunte þat child; how shold she eschewe? 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxiv. 34 How sould ony gentill hart indure To se this sycht on ony creature! a 1585 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 570 How suld it be said? 1782 F. Burney Cecilia ii. x, How should you understand what is so little intelligible? 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xliv, If a tinge of the world's pride..may mix with an expression so lovely, how should we chide that which is of earth for bearing some colour of its original?

    † c. In questions relating to meaning, cause, or reason, the form with should was formerly often substituted for an indicative tense. Obs.

1532 G. Hervet Xenoph. Househ. 9 What shulde be the cause of it, gentil Socrates, but that [etc.]. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 237 b, What should signifie, that dumpishenes of mynde, and inward sighyng? 1592 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 128 What should be the cause hereof? 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ i. v. §5 What should be the reason of this diversity?

    III. Elliptical and quasi-elliptical uses.
    24. With ellipsis of verb of motion: = ‘shall go’. Now arch.
    [The use is common in OHG. and OS., and in later HG., LG., and Du. In the mod. Scandinavian langs. it is also common, and instances occur in MSw.]

Present tense. Beowulf 1179 (Gr.), Þonne ðu forð scyle metodsceaft seon! c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xxxiii. 86 Loca nu þin fæder sceal mid me to mynstre. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 811 Schome ow is to..schunien þat ȝe schulen to. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7213 Þe ssephurdes & þe ssep al so ssolleþ to þe pine of helle. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 75 Of þe devel þey come, and to þe devel þey schulleþ. c 1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Aug. xi, Þe same man stand in study wheithir he schal to þe good wey or nowt. 1506 Kal. Sheph. (Sommer) 91 If thy boke be nat sure of rekenynge Thou shalt to hell. a 1596 Sir T. More iv. iii. 48 He shall straite to courte. 161. Gibbes Expos. 3rd Chap. Philipp. (1619) 237 The decree of God is, that to dust wee must, as all the rest of our fellow Saints and servants shall. a 1628 Preston New Cov. (1629) 324, I will plant my Law in thy heart, it shall neuer out againe. 1756 M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitland Club) 117 They..say, with a sort of flutter that they shall to Vauxhall and Ranelagh, but do not seem to enjoy it when there. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxix, Thou shalt with me to Iona.

Past tense. c 893 ælfred Oros. iii. v. §4 Þonne andydan hie þa duru þe on þa healfe open wæs, þæt hie be þæm wiston hwider hie sceoldon. 971 Blickl. Hom. 225 Þæt hit ða rihte wære þæt he of ðisse worlde sceolde. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7375 Willam & alle his Þat into þis bataile mid him ssolde. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2484 Wheþer he wulde, or he ne wulde, he toke hym vp, and furþe he shulde. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 13 One with⁓outen tonge and teeth tolde me whyder I shulde. 1462 Marg. Paston 18 May in P. Lett., Sche seithe her brother and other of her frendes thynke that she schulde up to London. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 37 That with our small coniunction we should on. 1598 ― Merry W. iii. v. 14 If the bottome were as deepe as hell, I shold down.

    † 25. In questions, what shall = ‘what shall (it) profit’, ‘what good shall (I) do’. Obs. (rare after OE.).

Present tense. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 663 (Gr.), Hwæt scal þe swa laðlic strið wið þines hearran bodan? c 1250 Owl & Night. 1025 (Cott.), Wat sol ich [Jesus MS. schold ich] þar mid mine songe, Ne sunge ich hom neuer so longe?

Past tense. c 893 ælfred Oros. ii. v. §4 He ascade, hwæt sceolde æt swa lytlum weorode mara fultum. c 1250 [see above].

    † 26. With the sense ‘is due’, ‘is proper’, ‘is to be given or applied’. Obs. [Cf. G. soll.]

c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. ii. 1 Rubric, Þys [sc. godspel] sceal on twelftan dæᵹ. c 1325 Poem temp. Edw. II (Percy) xli, He wol aske half a pownd To bygge with spiserye: The eyȝt shillyngs schul up To wyn and to ale. c 1375 Cursor M. 1724 (Faif.), Sir noe..hew þe timbre þat sulde þerto.

    27. a. With ellipsis of active infinitive to be supplied from the context.

Present tense. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2390 Leste ȝe eft wepen echeliche in helle,..as ȝe schullen alle, buten ȝef [etc.]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4092 Vorto anhansy vre king as we ssolle on alle wyse. a 1300 Cursor M. 19071 ‘Þat i mai giue’, he [sc. St. Peter, Acts iii. 6] said, ‘i sale’. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 203 Loue we as leue bretheren shal. c 1400 Love Bonavent. Mirr. xxxix. (Gibbs MS.) lf. 86, I haue ouercome þe world Alse who seyth And so schulle ȝe. 1526 Tindale Rom. viii. 25 Who shall seperate vs from goddes love? shall tribulacion? a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, Ind., Ober. That would I fain see. Boh. Why, thou shalt. 1610 Shakes. Temp. v. i. 20 Ar... If you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender. Pro. Dost thou thinke so, Spirit? Ar. Mine would, Sir, were I humane. Pro. And mine shall. 1633 Ford 'Tis Pity v. vi, Soran... Bring the strumpet forth. Vas. I shall Sir. 1710 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 22 Oct., This would vex me, but it shall not. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. iv. i, You shall have your choice... Miss Hoyd. Shall I? 1878 Swinburne Poems Ser. ii. Compl. Lisa 49 Ah, but, forgetting all things, shall I thee? 1892 Mrs. H. Ward David Grieve iv. ii, ‘No, indeed, I havn't got all I want’, said Lucy... ‘I never shall, neither’.

Past tense. Beowulf 2585 (Gr.) Guðbill ᵹeswac nacod æt niðe, swa hyt no sceolde. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. ii. (1883) 13 Þæt hi næfdon to gode naðer ne lufe ne eᵹe, swa swa hy scoldan. c 1120 Ranks in Gesetze der Angels. (Liebermann) 456 Se moste..his onspæce ᵹeræcan mid rihte, swa hwær swa he sceolde. a 1200 Moral Ode 60 in O.E. Hom. I. 163 Vfel we doð al to muchel and god lesse þenne we sculden. c 1350 Will. Palerne 3810 Þat þei hent swiche herte as hardi men schuld. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 49 Bot þou do bette And lyue as þow shulde. 1458 in Parker Dom. Archit. (1859) III. 42 For his fadir soule and his frendes he dyd as he scholde. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys 71 Blame it blynde dryuyll: by the lawe so thou sholde And nat therat to gyggyll. 1583 in W. Kelly Notices illustr. Drama (1865) 213 The..playours..crawed lycense ageyne to play at there Inn, & he told them they shold not. 1601 Sir W. Cornwallis Disc. Seneca (1631) 9 It is not pleasure to doe what we list, but never to stray from what we should. 1735 Pegge Kenticisms Introd. Let. (E.D.S.) 11, I wou'd remind you, and indeed it is altogether a necessary I shou'd, that [etc.]. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxi, I knew he would come. I prayed so that he should. 1872 Calverley Fly Leaves (1884) 81, I knew..That she was uttering what she shouldn't.

    b. Phrase, if I shall (see quots.). Now dial.

1390 Gower Conf. II. 96 Doun knelende on mi kne I take leve, and if I schal, I kisse hire. Ibid., I wolde kisse hire eftsones if I scholde. 1871 Earle Philol. Engl. Tongue 203 The familiar proposal to carry a basket,..I will if I shall, that is, I am willing if you will command me; I will if so required. 1886 W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v., I'll warn our Tom'll do it vor ee, nif he shall—i.e. if you wish.

    † c. With generalized ellipsis in proverbial phrase: needs must that needs shall = ‘he must whom fate compels’. Obs.

1390 Gower Conf. I. 99 Bot nede he mot that nede schal. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, Ind., Then needs must, needs sall.

    † 28. a. With ellipsis of do (not occurring in the context). Obs. rare.

c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives v. 370 He axode þone casere hu he embe hi sceolde. 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. in Ashm. (1652) 5 O King that shall These Workes!

    b. The place of the inf. is sometimes supplied by that or so placed at the beginning of the sentence.
    The construction may be regarded as an ellipsis of do. It is distinct from the use (belonging to 27) in which so has the sense of ‘thus’, ‘likewise’, or ‘also’; in the latter there is usually inversion, as so shall I.

13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 2735 ‘Rightfulliche thou him awreke’. Th' Emperour saide, ‘So ich schal’. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. lvii. 510 That shall I not said sir Dynadan. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxi, ‘His Mastership will do well to look to himself’. ‘That he should’, re-echoed Craigengelt. 1888 ‘J. S. Winter’ Bootle's Childr. iv, ‘I should like to see her now she's grown up’. ‘So you shall’.

    † 29. With ellipsis of be or passive inf., or with so in place of this (where the preceding context has is, was, etc.). Obs.

Present tense. a 900 Cynewulf Elene 895 (Gr.) Ða wæs þam folce on ferhðsefan inᵹemynde, swa him a scyle. c 1320 Cast. Love 719 Þe castel lihteþ al abouten, And is raddore þen euere eny rose schal. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 4284 Then dreme of thing that never was ne shal. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1631 Þus haþ it ben, & ay schal, I bileue. c 1560 Misogonus iii. iii. 153 Yf thou best askt as I know thou shalt. 1566 Sternhold & H. Ps. cxliii. 12 For I thy seruant am and shal. 1615 J. Chamberlain in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1848) I. 362 He is not yet executed, nor I hear not when he shall.

Past tense. c 1300 K. Horn 326 (Harl.) Þah horn were vnder molde & oþer elle[s] wher he sholde. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 269 Ȝif þis epistle of Poule were fulli executid as it shulde. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 2155 That ye be shorn as ye sholde As chose shepe of Crystys folde. ? 15.. K. Estmere vii. in Child Ballads II. 52/1 Many a man throughe fals messengers is deceived, And I feare lest soe shold wee. 1654 D. Osborne Lett. (1888) 285 When I was not satisfied with it myself, I had no reason to hope that anybody else should. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvi. i, The Sentiments in all these are very little varied, nor is it possible they should.

Oxford English Dictionary