Etimology
From Middle English wisshen, wischen, wüschen, from Old English wȳsċan (“to wish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan, from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (“to wish”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”). Cognate with Scots wis (“to wish”), Saterland Frisian wonskje (“to wish”), West Frisian winskje (“to wish”), Dutch wensen (“to wish”), German wünschen (“to wish”), Danish ønske (“to wish”), Icelandic æskja, óska (“to wish”), Latin Venus, veneror (“venerate, honour, love”).
noun
wish (plural wishes)
A desire, hope, or longing for something or for something to happen.
An expression of such a desire, often connected with ideas of magic and supernatural power.
The thing desired or longed for.
(Sussex) A water meadow.
Examples
have a wish
make someone's wish come true
Send this message to six beings of your acquaintance, and your greatest wish shall come true!
make a wish
LESTER: You believe in wishes? I mean, you believe they come true?CHESTER: Nah. I believe in wishes, but I don't believe they come true. Not unless it's a real easy wish, like "I wish I was at a birthday party." But you gotta blow out all the candles, or else the wish don't come true. If one candle stays lit, you don't get your wish.
My dearest wish is to see them happily married.
"I suppose all old soldiers are the same," said Mrs White. "The idea of our listening to such nonsense! How could wishes be granted in these days? And if they could, how could two hundred pounds hurt you, father?" / "Might drop on his head from the sky," said the frivolous Herbert.
verb
wish (third-person singular simple present wishes, present participle wishing, simple past and past participle wished)
(transitive) To desire; to want.
(transitive, now rare) To hope (+ object clause with may or in present subjunctive).
(intransitive, followed by for) To hope (for a particular outcome), even if that outcome is unlikely to occur or cannot occur.
(ditransitive) To bestow (a thought or gesture) towards (someone or something).
(intransitive, followed by to and an infinitive) To request or desire to do an activity.
(transitive) To recommend; to seek confidence or favour on behalf of.
Examples
I'll come tomorrow, if you wish it.
Showing the population what we wish them to be is the best way for them to change.
I would not wish / Any companion in the world but you.
Now John the butler must be sentTo learn the road that Phyllis went:The groom was wished to saddle Crop;For John must neither light nor stop,But find her, wheresoe'er she fled,And bring her back alive or dead.
Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …
I wish he mean me well, that he takes so much pains!
She hears that Miss Bigg is to be married in a fortnight. I wish it may be so.
This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for.
Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he said slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."
I wish I could go back in time and teach myself what I know now.
We wish you a Merry Christmas.
I would not wish them to a fairer death.
Let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil.
Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
I was wished to your worship by a gentleman.
Farewell: yet for the loue I beare my sweet Bianca, if I can by any meanes light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish him to her father.