will 
Willi (wil), /(. [< ME. wille, wi/Ue, < AS. wilki = 
OS. tcilleo, wiUio. trillo = OFries. iciUa = UD. 
wilU, D, wif = OHG. irilh, MHG. G. wille = 
Icel. ri/» = Sw. rHjo = Dan. villie = Goth, wi/ja, 
will ; from the verb : see ^77/^ r.] 1. Wish ; de- 
sire; pleasure; ineUiiation ; choice. 
Man, y ara more redy alway 
To forjeue thee thi niys gouernaunce 
than thou art mercy for to pray, 
For my wille were thee to enhaunce. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 201. 
I thanke God, I had no n-Ule to don it, for no thing that 
he behighten me. MandevUle, Travels, p. 35. 
I wol axe if it hir jcille be 
To be my wyf, and reule liir after me. 
Chaucer, (ierk's Tale, 1. 270. 
They who were hottest in his Cause, the most of them 
were men oftner diunk then by thir good will sober. 
Milton, Eikonoklastes, xix. 
2. That which is wished for or desired; ex- 
press wish; purpose; determination. 
When Castor hade clauly consayuit his icUle, 
He onswarcd hym lionestly with ori^ng a litill. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1918. 
Thy wUl be done. Mat. vi. 10. 
There is no greater Hindrance to Men for accomplishing 
their WiU than their own Wilfulness. 
Baker, Clironiclea, p. 72. 
That eternal immutable law in which icUl and reason 
are the same. Burke, Kev. in France. 
He holds him with his glittering eye — 
The wedding-guest stood still, 
And listens like a three-years' child: 
The Mariner hath his u-%11. 
Colerid'je, Ancient Mariner, i. 
Here was the wiU, and plenty of it ; now for the way. 
L. M. Alcott, Hospital SketclieB, p. 4. 
3. Wish; request; command. 
Tell me now, Mr. Acres, in case of an accident, is there 
any little vnU or commission I could execute for you? 
Sheridan, The Rivals, v. 3. 
4. Expressed wish with regard to the disposal 
of one's property, or the like, after death; the 
document coutainiuK such expression of one's 
wishes; especially, in law, the legal declara- 
tion of a person's intentions, to take effect af- 
ter his death. The essential distinction between a 
will and any other instrument or provision contingent 
open death is that a will has no effect whatever until 
death, and may be freely revoked meanwhile ; but a deed 
which may create or convey an estate in the event of 
death must take effect as binding tlie gi-antor in his 
lUe-time. In English law the word icill was originally 
used only of a disposition of real property to take effect 
at death, the word testament being then used, as in the 
Roman and civil law, of a disposition of ptrsonal property ; 
hence the phrase, now redundant, laxt icilland testament. 
In modern usage the term tt*i/Zdoe8 nut necessarily imply 
an actual disposition of property ; for an instrument, exe- 
cuted with the formalities required l)y law, in which the 
testator merely appoints a guardian for his child, or mere- 
ly nomfiiate« an executor, leaving the assets to be dis- 
tributed by the executor among those who would take by 
law, is a will. In respect of form, that wliich distinguishes 
a written wilt from other instruments consists in the cere- 
monies which the law requires for a valid execution, for 
the sake of guarding against mistake, fraud, and undue 
Influence. Nuncupative wills, however, are not subject 
to these rules. These formalities are generally four: 
(1) The testator must subscribe at the end or foot of the 
writing. (2) He must do so in the presence of witnesses. 
In some jurisdictions three are required. In some juris- 
dictions it Is enough that he acknowledge to the wit- 
nesses that the subscription he has previously made is his. 
'3) He must at the same time publish the will — that is, 
leclare *x> the witnesses that it is his will. (4) They must 
thereafter in his presence and at his request, and in the 
firesenceofone another, subscribe their names as witnesses. 
n some jurisdictions a seal is necessary with the testator's 
signature. One whose testimony as a subscrihing witness 
becomes necessary to prove it can take no gift by the will. 
After Christ had made his icUl at this supper, and given 
strength to his trill by his death, and proved Iiis will by 
his resurrection, and left the church possessed of his es- 
tate by his ascension. ... he poureil out his legacy of 
knowledge. Donne, Sermons, xxviii. 
Her last will 
Shall never be digress'd from. 
Ford, Broken Heart, v. 3. 
O lead me gently up yon hill, . . , 
And 111 there sit down, and make my will. 
The Cruel Brother (Child's Ballads, II. 255). 
6. Discretion; free or arbitrary disposal ; suf- 
ferance; mercy. 
ge ar welcum to welde as yow lykez, 
That here is, al is yowre awen, to haue at yowre wt/lle & 
welde. 
.Sir Oawayne awi the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 8.36. 
He had noe flrme estate in his tenement, but was onely 
a tenaunt at iriW or little more, and me at will may leave 
it. Spenxer, State of Ireland. 
But by constreynt and force of the sayde foule chaunge- 
able wether we strake all oure sayles and lay dryuynge in 
the large see at Godes tmjll vnto the nexte mornyuKe. 
Sir It. Guyl/orde, I'ylgrymage, p. 68. 
Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies. 
Ps. xxvii. 12. 
The F'rince was so devout and humble that he submitted 
his Body to be chastised at the Will of I>uiistan Abbot of 
Olaatenbury. Baker, Chronicles, p. II. 
t 
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6. The faculty of conscious, and especially of 
deliberate, action. The will should not be confused 
(aa it is, however, by ditferent writers) with self-control, 
desire, choice, or attention, although the first and lust of 
these are special modes of volition. Nor is "willing" a 
table to move automatically across a room an act of will; 
for experiment shows that effort of this kind, however 
streimous, fails to cause even the willer's own hand or foot 
to move. Normally, the consciousness of action is merged 
in sensations coming from the member moved ; but in 
cases of aiiEesthesia the agent is still aware of being in ac- 
tion, and even more or less of what he is doing. This con- 
sciousness always involves a sense of opposition, whether 
in the form of a struggle or of a triumph, or in the nega- 
tive aspect of a sense of freedom. (See freedom of the 
will, below.) We are always aware of some resistance, be 
it only the inertia of our limbs. Willing thus essential- 
ly involves perceptive sensation, the refiexio of Thomas 
Aquinas. (See rejiection, 7.) When the real object with 
which we are in relation is studied with reference to the 
predicates attributed to it by the senses, the result is ex- 
perience; but when the predicates we are inwardly in- 
clined to attach to it are studied out, the operation is de- 
liberation, terminating in choice, and commonly followed 
by acts of will. This cogiutive process is the necessary 
condition of self-control. By a " strong will " is sometimes, 
and perhaps most correctly, meant great self-control ; but 
more usually a power of bearing down the wills of others 
by tiring them out and by a domination like hypnotism 
is intended. 
Appetite is the Wilt's solicitor, and the Will is Appe- 
tite's controller; what we covet according to the one by 
the other we often reject. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, I. viii. § 3. 
Everyman isconsciousof a power to determine in things 
which he conceives to depend upon his determination. To 
this power we give the name of teUl. 
Held, Intellectual Powers, ii. 1. 
7. The act of willing; the act of determining 
a choice or forming a purpose ; volition. 
Even actual sins, committed without will, 
Are neither sins nor shame — much more compell'd. 
Fletcher (and another). Queen of Corinth, iii. 2. 
It is necessary to form a distinct notion of what is meant 
by the word Volition in order to understand the import of 
the word Will, for this last word properly expresses that 
power of the mind of which volition is the act. . . . The 
wr)rd will, however, is not always used in this its proper 
acceptation, but is frequently substituted for volition, as 
when I say that my liand moves in obedience to my will. 
I). Stewart, Works (ed. Hamilton), \I. 345. 
Antecedent WilL See antecedent.— At Will, (at) At 
command; in thorough mastery. 
He that can find two words of concord cannot find foure 
or flue or sixe, vnlesse be haue bis owne language a( will. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 73. 
(&) At pleasure ; at discretion. To hold an estate at the 
will of another is to enjoy the possession at his pleasure, 
and be liable to be ousted at any time by the lessor or pro- 
prietor. See estate at irill, under estate. 
je schul wite of joure sone 
That ge long haue for-lore leue me for sothe, 
<t him winne a-gen at wille. 
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2955. 
We know more from nature then we can at will commu- 
nicate. Emerson, Nature, iv. 
And if we think of various sensations in parts of our 
bodies we can prodncethem at uHl, andean induce at our 
pleasure other bodily alterations through emotional ex- 
citement. F. II. Bradley, Mind, XIII. 27. 
Conjoint will, Joint will, mutual wills, legal phrases 
often used without much discrimination. Especially — (a) 
A testamentary act by two persons jointly uniting in the 
same instrument, as their will, to take effect after the death 
of both, (b) A similar instrument to take effect as to each 
on liis or her death. These two classes are more properly 
termed joint or conjoint, (c) Wills made in connection by 
two persons pursuant to a compact, binding each to the 
other ti> make the dispositions of property thus declared. 
(d) Wills made to bequeath the effects of the one first 
dying to the survivor. These two classes, and particular- 
ly the last, are more appropriately termed mutual. The 
legal effect of such wills is often a matter of doubt.— Fac- 
tum Of a wilL See/ffcfMJrt.- Freedom of the will, a 
mental attril)ute the existence of which is disputed. Tlie 
phrase is taken in different senses by different thinkers, 
(a) The power of doing right on all occasions, (b) That 
freedom of which we have an immediate consciousness in 
action. This is, however, otdy the consciousness of being 
able to overcome some unspecified resistance to some un- 
specified extent, which implies and is implied in the fact 
of resistance, and is in fact but an aspect of the sense of 
action and reaction, (c) The power of acting from an in- 
ward spontaneity, not altogetlier dominated by motives. 
This is what most of the metaphysical advocates of tlie 
freedom of the will specifically contend for. It is a limita- 
tion of the action of causality, even in the material world. 
Some would restrict the spontaneous powerof theniind to 
making particles swerve without variation of their vis viva ; 
but this is untenable, since the law of action and reaction, 
which would thus be vitiated, is far more securely proved 
than that of the conservation of energy, the evidence for 
which is imperfect, while the objections to it are weighty. 
It Is contended on the one hand that such spontaneity is 
an indispensable condition of moral action; and on the 
otiier that, if it exists, it has no direct reference to moral- 
ity except this that, so far as a being is spontaneous in this 
sense, he is free from the moral law as well as from that of 
causation, and that there is neither sense nor justice in 
holding him responsible for mere sporadic effects of pure 
non-cause. Responsibility, it isargued, ought to imply that 
a man's conduct can hereRUlated by principles as efficient 
causes, and is not free from the influence of causation. - 
Free will, liberty ; freedom ; liberty as to choice in faith 
or conduct ; also, the faculty of will as l)eing free, or not 
absolutely snl)ject to causation. 
will 
Certainly there be that delight in giddiness, and count 
it a bondage to fix a belief — alTecting/rfc u-ill in thinking, 
as well as in acting. Bacon, Truth (ed. 1887). 
We thus, in thought, never escape determination and 
necessity. It will be observed that I do not consider this 
inability to the notion any disproof of the tact otfrec-u-iU. 
Sir W. Hamilton, Works, p. (ill. 
Goodwill, (n) Favor; kindness. (()) Sincerity ; right in- 
tention. 
Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife ; and 
some also of f/oorf «t7i. Phil. i. 15. 
His wiliest, of his own will ; voluntarily. 
A thyng that no man wol, his iriltes, lielde. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 272 (Harl. .MS.). 
Ill will, enmity ; unfriendliness. It e.\presses less than 
malice. Compare oood-uilt andiH-jtt'ZZ. — InOfBcious Will. 
See inofficious. — Joint Will, mutual wills. See conjoint 
«i«.— Offlolouswlll. Sec ojScioits.— Register of wills. 
See re£;is(er2.— Koman will, a form of ancient Koman 
will which in later times was allowed in the Eastern Em- 
pire, and generally known as the Roman u-ill, combining 
something of the form of the mancipat(jry with the efti- 
cacy of the Pretorian testament, Seitestament. Maine.— 
Simple wUl. See simple.— Statute of Wills, the name 
commonly designating a British or an American statute 
regulating the power to make wills; more specifically, 
an English statute of 1640 (superseded by the Wills Act), 
by which persons seized in socage were allowed to devise 
all their lands except to bodies corporate, and persons 
seized in chivalry were allowed to devise two thirds: 
sometimes also called the Wills ^rf.— Tenant at will 
See tenaiid.— To have one's wUl, to obtain what is de- 
sired.— To work one's will, to act absolutely according 
to one's own will, wish, pleasure, or fancy ; do entirely 
what one pleases (with something). 
For tho' the Giant Ages heave the bill 
And break the shore, and evermore 
Make and break, and wink their inll, . . . 
What know we greater than the soul? 
Tennyson, Death of Wellington. 
Wills Act, an English statute of 16:!7 (7 Wm. IV. and 1 
Vict., c. 26) which repealed the Statute of Wills, and en- 
acted that all property may be disposed of by will. It 
required wills to be in writing, signed at the foot, and 
attested by two witnesses, and declared the effect of 
certain words and phrases in them. The amendment of 
18.'i2 (l.S and 16 Vict., c. 24) relates to the position of the 
signature.— With a Will, with willingness and earnest- 
ness ; with all one's heart ; heartily. 
Mr. Herbert threw himself into the business u-ith a uiU. 
Dickens, Great Expectations, xlv. 
■W1112 (wil), v.; pret. ami pp. R-iUed, ppr. u-iUhiq 
(pres. iud. 3(1 pers. Kills). [< MK. wincn, wi'l- 
lini (pret. willcde), < AS. williaii (pret, u-illode), 
will, demand, desire; of. AS. wihiimi, > ME. 
wiliien, desire, wish (see wiln); secondary verbs, 
from the primitive verb represented by wiU^. 
The two verbs (wiW^ and iciU^) early became 
e()nfused, more esp. in eases in which the aux- 
iliary verb was used as a principal verb.] I. 
traii.'i. 1. To wish; desire. [Archaic] 
There, there, Hortensio, in/? you any wife? 
Shak.. T. of the S.,i. 1. 66. 
A great party in the state 
Wills me wed to her. Tennyson, Queen Mary, i. 4. 
2t. To communicate or express a wish to; de- 
sire; request; direct; tell; bid; order; com- 
mand. 
Within half an houre after, M". Essex uilled the said 
Hugh to go to .\1'". Ralegh and uill her to send the said 
lady a couple of the best chickens. 
DarreU Papers, 1668 (H. Hall's Society in Elizabethan 
[Age, App. ii.). 
Sir I.adron, your Sonne and my cousin uilled me , . . 
that I should write vnto you the soitow which I conceiue<i 
of the sicknesse your Ixjrdship hath had. 
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 189. 
Now here she writes, and nills me to repent. 
Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iii. 4. 
Gorton and his company . . . wrote a letter to Onkus, 
uilliny him to deliver their friend Miantunnomoh. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 168. 
3. To determine by act of choice; (leci(le; de- 
cree; ordain; hence, to intend; purpose. 
All such Buttcs and Hoggesheads as may be found to 
serue we tmll shalbe filled with Traine Oyle. 
Ilakluyt's Voyages, I. ,'iOO. 
Two things he wiUeth, that we should be good, and that 
we should be happy. Barrow. Sermons, III. iv. 
Man in his state of innocency had freedom and imwer 
to tcill and to do that which was well pleasing to God ; 
but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it. 
C Mather, Mag. Chris., v. 1. 
Man always wills to do that which he desires most, and 
when he does not feel himself oldiged by the sentiment 
of duty to do that which he desires less. 
Maudsley, Body ami Will, p. 92. 
We shall have success if we truly nill success — not 
otherwise. 0. W. Holmes, Essays, p. 118. 
4. To dispose of by will or testament ; Rive as 
a legacy; bequcp.th: as, he u-illed the fartn to 
his nei)hew. 
Servants and their families descended from father to 
son, or were sometimes willed away, the servant being 
given, within limits, his choice of a master. 
The Century. ,\X.\VI. 277. 
5. To bring utider the influence or control of 
the will of another; subject to tho power of 
another's will. [Recent.] 
