Word Direct Answers

What does "wish" mean?

Wish: This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for. Arbuthnot.

Additional senses

  1. 2.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.
  2. 3.John 2.
  3. 4.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.
  4. 5.3. 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.
  5. 6.Desire; eager desire; longing. Behold, I am according to thy wish in God a stead. Job xxxiii.
  6. 7.2. Expression of desire; request; petition; hence, invocation or imprecation. Blistered be thy tongue for such a wish. Shak.
  7. 8.A thing desired; an object of desire. Will he, wise, let loose at once his ire . . . To give his enemies their wish! Milton.

Sources