would

alternative 'd · alternative obsolete wou'd

1. Past tense of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
   1. auxiliaryUsed to form the "anterior future", or "future in the past", indicating a futurity relative to a past time.First known use 9th c.

      I'm really flattered you would call your daughter after me.

      5 more examples

      On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.

      Hi! I thought I'd come over and introduce myself. My name’s Chema.

      They thought anything Elvis did would sell, but that was not true.

      That her Lily should have been won and not worn, had been, and would be, a trouble to her for ever.

      1867, Anthony Trollope, chapter 28, in Last Chronicle of Barset

      Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.

      1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0056

   2. auxiliaryUsed to, did repeatedly, habitually; indicates an action that happened several times in the past (cannot describe continuous states, as in I used to live in London)First known use 9th c.

      When we were younger, we would cycle out to the beach most summer Sundays.

      2 more examples

      No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

      1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46

      When we were kids we would sit by the radio with a tape recorder on a Sunday, listening out for the chart songs we wanted to have.

      2009 March 15, “Soundtrack of my life”, in The Guardian

      Synonyms: used to

   3. auxiliaryWas or were determined to; indicating someone's insistence upon doing something.First known use 18th c.

      I asked her to stay in with me, but she would go out.

      1 more example

      Then he took to breeding silk-worms, which he would bring in two or three times a day, in little paper boxes, to show the old lady[…].

      1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter V, in Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC

   4. archaicauxiliaryWanted to.First known use 9th c.

      And thenne at laste a-nother sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel.

      1490, William Caxton, Prologue to Eneydos

      1 more example

      The Greeks, especially those who would be thought adepts in mystic theology, ran after fantastic allegories […].

      1852, James Murdock, trans. Johann Lorenz Mosheim, Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, II.7.iii

   5. archaicauxiliaryUsed with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses.First known use 9th c.

      At which time he told me, he would to London that week, and so to Oxford.

      1694, John Strype, Memorials of The Most Reverend Father in God, Thomas Cranmer, Appendix page 68

      2 more examples

      He sat as one astonish'd, a good-while, looking at me, without speaking a Word, till I came quite up to him, kneel'd on one Knee to him, and almost whether he would or no, kiss'd his Hand[…].

      1724, Daniel Defoe, Roxana, Penguin, page 107

      'I thank thee, oh Ayesha,' I replied, with as much dignity as I could command, 'but if there be such a place as thou dost describe, and if in this strange place there may be found a fiery virtue that can hold off Death when he comes to pluck us by the hand, yet would I none of it.'

      1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   6. auxiliaryobsoleteWished, desired (something).First known use 9th–19th c.
2. A modal verb, the subjunctive of will; usually followed by a bare infinitive.
   1. auxiliaryUsed as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality, indicating a state or action that is conditional on another.First known use 9th c.

      I'd never do anything that went against my conscience.

      3 more examples

      If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity.

      If I could fly, I would away to those realms of light and warmth – far, far away in the southern clime[…].

      1846, “A New Sentimental Journey”, in Blackwoods Magazine, volume LX, number 372

      Warnock admitted it would be the ideal scenario if he received a Carling Cup winners' medal as well as an England call-up[…].

      2010 February 26, The Guardian

   2. auxiliaryWithout explicit condition, or with loose or vague implied condition, indicating a hypothetical or imagined state or action.

      I would love to come and visit.

      3 more examples

      Look at that yummy cake! I would eat that all up!

      Most other people would do it differently, helping anybody who was in trouble, whether they knew them or not.

      It's a piece of old folklore for which I would love to find hard proof.

      2008 November 3, Mark Cocker, “Country Diary”, in The Guardian

   3. auxiliarySuggesting conditionality or potentiality in order to express a sense of politeness, tentativeness, indirectness, hesitancy, uncertainty, etc.First known use 9th c.

      I would ask you all to sit down.

      4 more examples

      I would imagine that they have already left.

      I would say/think we would/might do better to catch the earlier flight.

      “Those trials are being run by the American army so surely you must have access to the documents?” “Well, yeah, you’d think.”

      2009, Nick Snow, The Rocket's Trail, page 112

      Departing on schedule with the help of a friendly doctor was quite usual. Does that still apply? It would seem so.

      2010 February 2, Terry Pratchett, “My case for a euthanasia tribunal”, in The Guardian

   4. auxiliaryUsed to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation.

      It's disgraceful the way that they've treated you. I would write and complain.

   5. auxiliaryUsed to express the speaker's belief or assumption.

      She looked as if she would be sick.

      2 more examples

      He's very security-conscious, so he would have remembered to lock the door.

      They would be arriving in London round about now.

   6. auxiliaryCould naturally be expected to (given the situation, the tendencies of someone's character etc.).First known use 18th c.

      Sorry, officer, I wouldn't know anything about the crime, since I was nowhere near the scene.

      1 more example

      The free access model, the media magnate said last week, was "malfunctioning". Well he would, wouldn't he?

      2009 May 10, “Is the era of free news over?”, in The Observer

   7. auxiliaryUsed interrogatively to express a polite request; are (you) willing to …?First known use 15th c.

      Would you pass the salt, please?

      1 more example

      Just reach me down that file, would you.

   8. archaicauxiliaryMight wish (+ verb in past subjunctive); often used in the first person (with or without that) in the sense of "if only".First known use 13th c.

      PARIS My lord, I would that Thursday were tomorrow.

      c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]

      4 more examples

      KING HENRY Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz? WESTMORELAND God’s will, my liege, would you and I alone, Without more help, could fight this royal battle!

      1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

      I presently wished, would that I had been in their clothes! would that I had been born Peter! would that I had been born John!

      1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC

      I would she had retained her original haughtiness of disposition, or that I had a larger share of Front-de-Bœuf's thrice-tempered hardness of heart!

      1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC

      But as the youth increased their annoyance by declaring that the goddess was quite right, because the Emperor was Archon Eponym of the city of Athens, he said: "Would that he also presided the Panathenaic festival."

      1912, Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, translated by F. C. Conybeare (Loeb Classical Library), 8.16

   9. archaicauxiliarytransitive or control verbMight desire; wish (something).First known use 15th c.

      What dost thou professe? What would’st thou with vs?

      c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]

plural woulds · alternative 'd · alternative obsolete wou'd

1. Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality.

   Shushona you must learn to rightfully prioritize all the woulds, shoulds and coulds of your life.

   2010, Shushona Novos, The Personal Universal: A Guidebook for Spiritual Evolution, page 395

   1 more example

   When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package — the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds — is there too.

   1996, Fred Shoemaker, Extraordinary Golf: The Art of the Possible, page 88

alternative 'd · alternative obsolete wou'd

1. abbreviationellipsisidiomaticslangEllipsis of I would, used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually attractive.