Willingly

adv. (Also 5 welyngly, 7 wollinglie.) [OE. willendlíce: see WILLING ppl. a. and -LY².] In a willing manner (in various senses of the adj.).

  † 1.  a. Intentionally, deliberately, wilfully. Obs.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 306. Heere I swere that neuere willyngly In werk ne thoght I nyl yow disobeye.

1402.  Hoccleve, Let. Cupid, lvi. Sauf willyngly the feende deceyued Eve.

1531.  Tindale, Expos. 1 John ii. (1538), 17 b. God is lyghte, and therfore … no man which wyllinglye walketh in the vnfrutefull workes of darknesse, hath ony fellowshyp wyth that lyght.

1550.  Crowley, Way to Wealth, 521. Wittinglye and willinglye … ye haue … disobeied youre kinge.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 346. Still thou mistak’st, Or else committ’st thy knaueries willingly [Qo’s wilfully].

1622.  in Foster, Engl. Factories Ind. (1908), II. 132. That nyght, wee carryinge the lighte, the Dutch (as wee suppose) lost us willinglye.

1727.  De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. iii. (1840), 78. Men that do not willingly deceive the people, or that at least have not a wicked design to deceive.

1748.  in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 302. I will not willingly stand in any body’s way.

  † b.  Of one’s own will, voluntarily. Obs.

1552.  Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 43. Thai ar content to do it willingly without ony compulsioun.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. iii. 61. If he do not, if I come in his (willingly) let him make a Carbonado of me.

1617.  Moryson, Itin., I. 205. I had no remedie but to pay those Crownes for him,… if I had not rather chosen willingly to doe it.

1695.  Ld. Preston, Boeth., I. 12, note. For this he was banished his Country, or rather willingly left it.

  2.  With a ready will, consentingly, without reluctance: with various shades of meaning from ‘with acquiescence, submissively’ to ‘with pleasure, cheerfully, gladly’ or ‘wishfully, eagerly.’

  Often with would: would willingly = should like to; would not willingly = would rather not, should be loth to.

a. 1000.  in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 222/20. Diligenter, willendlice.

1538.  Elyot, Libenter, wyllyngely, gladly.

1549.  Cheke, Hurt Sedit., K j b. And so be contented to byde the ende willingly, which set on the beginning wilfully.

1559.  Aylmer, Harborowe, M 2. Thou maist the rather, the willinglier, and gladlier do it.

1560.  Pilkington, Expos. Aggeus (1562), 159. They would not willingly serue hym, whiche woulde not willingly serue and obey their God and kinge.

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, II. xx. (1912), 279. To bring us (as willingly-caught fishes) to bite at her baite.

1592–3.  in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. IV. 109. I may neither dispose of my owne … as others usuallie doe, and I willingliest would.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., II. iv. 95. I like this place, and willingly could Waste my time in it. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., V. i. 481. I craue death more willingly then mercy.

1649.  in Spalding Club Misc. (1852), V. 380. I sall werey wollinglie concwre withe them.

1653.  Walton, Angler, iv. 115. I would willingly fish on the Lee-shore.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 254, ¶ 3. I would willingly give you a little good Advice.

1835.  in Cornwallis, New World (1859), I. 364. Their cheerful and willingly-offered services.

1859.  Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 1056. ‘Friend, let her eat; the damsel is so faint.’ ‘Yea, willingly,’ replied the youth.

1881.  Besant & Rice, Chapl. Fleet, I. vi. Often have I observed one … of the sisters willingly go without her dinner … in order that her portion might be reserved for Mr. Stallabras.

  † b.  fig. Readily, easily. Obs.

1600.  Surflet, Country Farm, III. lxv. 581. The vttermost pilling of common walnuts, whether it shale willingly or no.

1615.  Crooke, Body of Man, VII. x. 456. If the braine had been one entire massie substance, it would not so willingly and gladly as we say, haue risen and falne in the Systole and Diastole.