Comp. willinger, sup. willingest (now rare). [OE. willende (WILL v.1, -ING2) appears in selfwillende SELF-WILLING, unwillende UNWILLING, welwillende WELL-WILLING a., yfel-willende EVIL-WILLING, and willendlíce WILLINGLY. But there is no evidence in the simplex or the compounds of continuity of use from OE.]
† 1. Wishing, wishful, desirous; inclined, disposed. Obs.
1450–1530. Myrr. Our Ladye, II. 69. Yt were not spedefull to hym … to study in bokes of heuynes & of drede though he felte hymselfe wyllyng therto.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 111. He was not receiued of his woman,… when he was moste willyng to se her.
1587. Holinshed, Chron., II. 435/2. I haue … beene the willinger to set downe the same … for that I would not suffer so worthie a man … to be buried in obliuion.
1594. T. Bedingfield, trans. Machiavelli’s Florentine Hist. (1595), 191. The Pope and the King became more willing one of the others friendship.
1622. Wotton, Lett. (1907), II. 239. The willinger to increase his haste.
1697. trans. C’tess. D’Aunoy’s Trav. (1706), 168. They alledge that the Heat is so excessive, that they are willing to hinder the Sun from coming in, as much as they can.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 403. Some little ‘peep-o’-day boy,’ willing to take the ‘top of the morning’ before the rest of his compeers.
2. Having a ready will; disposed to consent or comply; ready to do (what is specified or implied) without reluctance, having no objection, ‘not disposed to refuse’ (J.); spec. disposed to do what is required, ready to be of use or service.
a. in attrib. use, preceding the sb.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18359. Lauerd … þi wiling merci [þou] beris wit-in, And sun þou slockens al vr sin.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., I. (Percy Soc.), 7. To a willyng harte is nought impossible.
1526. Tindale, 2 Cor. viii. 12. If there be fyrst a willynge mynde, it is accepted accordynge to thatt a man hath.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 73. We haue willing Dames enough.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 73. Satan … ready now To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feet On the bare outside of this World. Ibid. (1671), P. R., I. 222. By winning words to conquer willing hearts.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, VIII. 541. Eager of her Charms, He snatch’d the willing Goddess to his Arms.
1721. Prior, Colin’s Mistakes, iii. The willing Steed receiv’d her soft Command.
1797. Godwin, Enquirer, I. ix. 82. A willing temper makes every burthen light.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., I. i. Fifteen millions of workers, understood to be the … cunningest and the willingest our Earth ever had.
1858. Froude, Hist. Eng., III. xiii. 133. Work is done rapidly by willing hands, in the midst of a willing people.
1893. Selous, Trav. S. E. Africa, xiv. 270. Our men were a good-tempered, willing lot, and gave us no trouble.
absol. 1852. Blackw. Mag., March, 365. For the willing there is ever a way.
1868. Ruskin, Arrows of Chace (1880), II. 195. Aid the willing.
b. in predicative use, or following the sb.: const. to and inf., with clause, or absol.; † also formerly to with sb.
In quot. 1647 with with = agreeing with, consenting to.
a. 1540. Barnes, Supplic. Hen. VIII., c iv b. Bycause the king and his lordes shulde bee the wyllynger to take this battaile on them, he sent a commaundement to the byshops, to rayse … a taxe, for to paye the sould yours with.
1559. W. Cunningham, Cosmogr. Glasse, Pref. 1. The Souldiors allured with the commodities of the Countries, were made the willinger to the thinge.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iii. 86. He may staie him, marrie not without the prince be willing. Ibid. (1601), Twel. N., IV. iii. 29. He shall conceale it Whiles [= until] you are willing it shall come to note.
1647. Ward, Simple Cobler, 21. I am perswaded the Devill himselfe was never willing with their proceedings.
1685. Baxter, Paraphr. N. T., Matt. x. 11. Enquire who is a godly person, willingest to entertain the Gospel.
c. 1720. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 257. The king was willinger to comply with anything than this.
1754. Shebbeare, Matrimony (1766), I. 144. Mr. Trueman … [fancied] that Mr. Sharply would be very willing to this Union between his Son and his Ward.
1759. Goldsm., Bee, No. 8. They … grew willing to be burnt or hanged out of a world which was no other to them than a scene of persecution and anguish.
1850. Dickens, Dav. Copp., v. Barkis is willin’.
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 3. 480. The nation was willing to take his obstinacy for firmness.
c. Willing horse (in proverbial phrases), applied to one who is willing to work or to take trouble.
c. 1580. J. Cooke, Narr., in World Encomp. by Sir F. Drake (Hakluyt Soc.), App. iv. 207. There nedyd no spure to a willing horsse.
1616. T. Draxe, Bibl. Scholast., 93. All lay load on a willing horse. Some must beare the common burden.
1881. Daily News, 29 Dec., 5/2. It was probably on the well-known principle of working a willing horse that he was left to labour as an ordinary Judge for fifteen years.
d. transf. Given, rendered, offered, performed, assumed, borne or undergone willingly.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 757. The people … in a willyng and louyng obedience among themselues.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., III. v. 63. We send, To know what willing Ransome he will giue. Ibid. (c. 1600), Sonn., vi. 6. That vse is not forbidden vsery, which happies those that pay the willing lone.
1628. Milton, Vac. Ex., 52. Held with his melodious harmonie In willing chains and sweet captivitie.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, II. 965. Haste, my dear Father,… And load my Shoulders with a willing Fraight.
1715. De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. v. (1841), I. 104. Here, Madam, is the willingest sacrifice I ever made in my life.
1814. Byron, Lara, II. iii. With eye, though calm, determined not to spare, Did Lara too his willing weapon bare.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 230. The affection and willing obedience of his subjects.
e. fig. of things: Compliant, yielding; (of the wind) favorable.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lv. 22. Sum, thocht tham selffis stark,… Ar now maid waek lyk willing wandis.
1688. Prior, Ode Exod. iii. 14, v. Why does He wake the correspondent Moon, And fill her willing Lamp, with liquid Light?
1697. Dryden, Æneis, III. 253. And leaving few behind, We spread our sails before the willing Wind.
1749. Shenstone, Irreg. Ode, 85. And some entwin’d the willing sprays, To shield th’ illustrious dame’s repose.
1791. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. 54. Down the steep slopes He led with modest skill The willing pathway, and the truant rill.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, i. 9. The willing fume [of the tchibouque] came up, and answered my slightest sigh.
f. advb. Willingly, consentingly, without reluctance. (Now rare or Obs.) Willing (or) nilling (arch.), with or against one’s will, willy-nilly.
1585. Sidney, Lett., Misc. Wks. (1829), 323. Which I the willinger do becaws I think him a good honest gentleman.
1607. Shaks., Timon, III. vi. 32.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 382. With thy permission then, and thus forewarnd,… The willinger I goe.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, VII. 294. Willing we sought your Shores.
1578. H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 148. [These] conquered in such sorte the hearts of euery one vnto hym, as willing, nilling, it behoued enuy to hang the heade.
1626. T. H[awkins], trans. Caussin’s Holy Crt., 488. Arcadius willing, nilling, was constrayned … to signe the petition.
1798. W. Taylor, in Monthly Mag., IV. 197. And willing or nilling thou’lt come.
1874. Sayce, Compar. Philol., iii. 100. Every idiom, ancient or modern, has to be brought willing, nilling, under some ‘family.’
† 3. That is so, or is done or borne, of one’s own will; voluntary, intentional, deliberate, wilful.
1550. Crowley, Epigr., 33. To the willinge wicked no prophete shall be sente.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. xxi. (1912), 286. But so by Lelius willing-missing was the odds of the Iberian side.
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. iii. 242. Willing misery Out-liues incertaine pompe. Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., III. i. 49. The willing’st sinne I euer yet committed.
4. Exercising or capable of exercising the will, volitional; conveying impulses of the will.
1875. E. White, Life in Christ, I. i. 8. We know nothing of the post-mortem existence of the thinking willing energy of man.
1896. Housman, Shropsh. Lad, xxiv. Ere the wholesome flesh decay, And the willing nerve be numb.
5. Comb., as willing-hearted, -minded adjs.
1539. Bible (Great), Exod. xxxv. 22. And they came … (euen as manye as were willynge harted) & brought bracelettes, & earynges, rynges & cheynes.
1648. Hexham, II. Willemoedigh, willing-minded.
1830. Coleridge, Lett., to T. H. Green (1895), 751. Our Harriet, whose love and willing-mindedness to me-ward [etc.].
