ppl. a. Rightly, honestly or kindly intended; said or done with good intention.
1476[?]. J. Paston, in P. Lett., III. 159. I have herd oft tymys Rychard Stratton sey that ye can and wyll take every thyng well that is well ment.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., III. iii. 67. His demand Springs not from Edwards well-meant honest Loue, But from Deceit, bred by Necessitie.
1628. R. Hayman, in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1918), Jan., 31. The poore successe of diuers of these well meant general treatises.
1707. Atterbury, Vind. Doctr. Funeral Serm. Bennet, 4. Had I err’d in this case, it had been a well-meant Mistake.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxviii. My ill-timed, though well-meant, request.
1886. Besant, Childr. Gibeon, II. xxiv. Valentine’s well-meant, but perhaps injudicious interference.
b. quasi-sb. (with personification).
1602. [see WELL DONE 2 d].
