Wish , n.
1. Desire; eager desire; longing.
Behold, I am according to thy wish in God a stead.
Job xxxiii.
6. 2. Expression of desire; request; petition; hence, invocation or imprecation.
Blistered
be thy tongue for such a wish.
Shak.
3. A thing desired; an object of desire.
Will he, wise,
let loose at once his ire . . .
To give his enemies their wish!
Milton.
Wish (?), v. t. 1. To
desire; to long for; to hanker after; to have a mind or disposition toward.
I
would not wish
Any companion in the world but
you.
Shak. I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper.
3. John 2. 2. To frame or express desires concerning; to invoke in favor of, or against, any one; to attribute, or cal down, in desire; to invoke; to imprecate.
I would not
wish them to a fairer death.
Shak. I wish it
may not prove some ominous foretoken of misfortune to have met with such a miser as I am.
Sir P. Sidney. Let
them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil.
Ps. xl. 14.
3. To recommend; to seek confidence or favor in behalf of. [Obs.]
Shak.
I would be glad
to thrive, sir,
And I was wished to your worship by a gentleman.
B.
Jonson. Syn. -- See Desire.
Wish (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wished (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Wishing.]
[OE. wischen,
weschen, wuschen, AS. w&?;scan; akin to D.
wenschen, G. wünschen, Icel. æeskja, Dan.
önske, Sw. önska; from AS. w&?;sc a
wish; akin to OD. & G.
wunsch, OHG. wunsc, Icel. &?;sk, Skr. vā&?;chā a wish, vā&?;ch to wish; also
to Skr. van to like, to wish. &?;. See Winsome, Win,
v. t., and cf. Wistful.]
1. To have a desire
or yearning; to long; to hanker.
They cast four anchors out of the stern,
and wished for the day.
Acts xxvii.
29. This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for.
Arbuthnot.