Wilfully

adv. Forms: see WILFUL a. [Late OE. wilfullíce, f. *wilfull WILFUL a.¹ (cf. OE. carfull careful, carfullíce carefully): see -LY².]

  † 1.  Willingly, readily, without reluctance; patiently, submissively (with suffer, etc.); gladly, ‘fain’ (with will vb. expressing desire: cf. 3). Obs.

a. 1100.  Gloss. Ælfric’s Colloq., 146 (Napier 225/1). Uolenter, wilfol[lice].

a. 1240.  Wohunge, in O. E. Hom., I. 279. Alle þat clenli for þi luue mesaise and pouerte wilfulliche þolien.

1357.  Lay Folks’ Catech. (L.), 1100. Men schuld wilfully fede pore hungry men and þrusty.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, II. 172. He serwyt ay lelely; And the tothir full wilfully,… Rewardyt him weile his seruice.

1382.  Wyclif, Acts xxi. 17. Whanne we camen to Jerusalem, bretheren resceyueden vs wilfulli.

c. 1460.  Godstow Reg., 132. Mansel … willid & acceptid wilfulli þe gifte þat Raph bloet made to þe church.

1493.  Festivall (W. de W., 1515), 9. He must … suffre trybulacyon mekely, and do almes dedes wylfully.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VIII. iii. 89. Wilfully I obey thair command.

  † b.  With good will, heartily; ‘with a will.’

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, II. 386. And with that word sa wilfully He dang on. Ibid., VIII. 462. Thai … prikit furth sa vilfully To vyn the ladis at thai saw pass.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 7. First understond, and willfully procede.

  † 2.  Of one’s own free will, of one’s own accord, voluntarily. Rarely in reference to an inanimate thing: Spontaneously, ‘of itself.’ Obs.

c. 1000.  in Haupt’s Zeitschr. f. deutsches Alt., IX. 435/2. Sponte, wilful[l]ice.

1357.  Lay Folks’ Catech. (L.), 1163. How moche more be þei cursyd of god; þat bynde hem-self wilfully.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XX. 48. Syth he þat wrouȝte al þe worlde was wilfullich nedy.

c. 1400.  Maundev., xvi. (1839), 176. Hem that sleen hem self wilfully, for love of here Ydole.

a. 1425.  trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 87. If þe puluis putte in go willfully out with þe dede flesch þi nedez is wele sped.

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., lxiv. 277 (Add. MS.). Do of thi clothes wilfully, or thou shalt agayn thi wille.

a. 1536.  Tindale, Exam. W. Thorpe, in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 155/1. The night before y^t Christ Jesu wold suffer wilfullye passion for mankinde.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 15. She wilfully her sorrow did augment.

1642.  Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xi. 403. Martyrs are to die willingly but not wilfully.

1705.  Clarke, Disc. Nat. Relig. (1706), 103. A Man is obliged not to depart wilfully out of this Life, which is the general Station that God has appointed him.

  † b.  According to one’s own will; at will, freely. Obs.

1340–70.  Alex. & Dind., 604. But ȝe, folliche folk ȝour fals godus alle Wil-fully worschipen wiþ wordliche godus.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 1782. To me tended þei nouȝt bot tok forþ here wey wilfulli to sum wildernesse.

c. 1475.  Partenay, 327. Ouer all thys hors so went wylfully here and there ouer all where at hys lust wold.

c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., lxxx. 8. But since your worth (wide as the Ocean is) The humble as the proudest saile doth beare, My sawsie barke (inferior farre to his) On your broad maine doth wilfully appeare.

  † 3.  With desire, longingly. Obs. rare.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 3300. Þat quen & hire douȝter & meliors þe schene wayteden out at a windowe wilfulli in-fere.

c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, VIII. 497. And all did wilfully expect, the siluer-throned morne.

  4.  Purposely, on purpose, by design, intentionally, deliberately. Chiefly, now always, in bad sense (cf. WILFUL a.¹ 5); often with admixture of, or passing into, sense 5; occas. implying ‘maliciously.’

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, II. 284. Yf þat he wole take of it no cure, Whan þan it cometh, but wylfully it weyuen.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XVII. 285. How myȝte he axe mercy, or any mercy hym helpe, Þat wykkedlich & willefullich wolde mercy anynte?

c. 1400.  Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton), II. li. (1859), 54. He that wylfully deceyued hym self, who may hym releue of myschyef?

1477.  Rolls of Parlt., VI. 184/2. Money so molten, beten or wilfully broken.

1526.  R. Whytford, Martiloge, 67 b. The feest also of saynt Dace bysshop of mylen, y^t in his journey toward constantynople was wylfully lodged in a hous y^t was occupyed w^t wycked spirytes.

1617.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Three Weekes Observ., C 3. For those that set houses on fire wilfully, they are smoked to death.

1726.  Shelvocke, Voy. round World (1757), 242. Deaf to all I could say, and so wilfully insensible of the impendant destruction.

1819.  Scott, Ivanhoe, xliv. His administration was wilfully careless, now too indulgent, and now allied to despotism.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., v. I. 545. Instead of the money came excuses … which ought to have opened the eyes of all who were not wilfully blind.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., VIII. 107. A mill containing 500 of his looms was wilfully burnt down.

1911.  Act 1 & 2 Geo. V., c. 6 § 1. If any person lawfully sworn as a witness … wilfully makes a statement … which he knows to be false.

  5.  In a self-willed manner, perversely, obstinately, stubbornly.

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, I. v. (1912), 33. The mother … beyng determinately (least I shoulde say of a great Lady, wilfully) bent to marrie her to Demagoras. Ibid., II. xiii. 232. Now so evill could she conceale her fire, and so wilfully persevered she in it, that [etc.].

1595.  Shaks., John, III. i. 142. I … demand Why thou against the Church, our holy Mother, So wilfully dost spurne.

1596.  Spenser, State Irel., Wks. (Globe), 654/1. Surely of such desperat persons as will willfully followe the course of theyr owne follye, there is noe compassion to be had.

a. 1694.  Tillotson, Serm., Luke xii. 47, 48, Wks. 1717, I. 425. He that first acknowledgeth him for his Prince, and then affronts him, deserves to be prosecuted with the utmost severity, because he did it wilfully, and in meer contempt.

1726–.  [see 4].