Willy-nilly (Will I, Nil I, etc.), phr. (old).—Willing or unwilling, nolens volens, 'Whether I will or not.' As adj. = vacillating: see Nilly-willy and Shilly-shally.
1563. Foxe, Acts and Monuments (Cattley), 556. Wil'd she, nil'd she.
1590. Spenser, Faery Queen, 1. iii. 43. With foule reproaches and disdaineful spight Her vildly entertaines; and will or nill, Beares her away upon his courser light.
1593. Shakspeare, Taming of Shrew, ii. 1. Your father hath consented That you shall be my wife; your dowry 'greed on; And will you, nill you, I will marry you.
1607. Beaumont, Woman Hater, iii. 4. Will she, nill she, she shall come Running into my house.
1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, x. If I thought myself bound to doctor the man willy-nilly, as you do, I would certainly go to him.
1877. Tennyson, Harold, v. 1. Some one saw thy willy-nilly nun Vying a tress against our golden fern.
Wilt, verb (London).—To run
away, bunk (q.v.).
Win (or Wyn, or Wing), subs.
(Old Cant).—A penny; 1d.: see
Rhino and Nose-and-chin.
1608. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight [Grosart, Works (188 ), iii. 203]. Or nip a boung that has but a win.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Scuddick—is used negatively; 'not a scuddick'—not any brads, not a whin, empty clies.
1900. Flynt, Tramps. Just go and get a shave now, Jim. I'll give you a wing (penny) if you will.
Winchester-goose, subs. phr.
(old).—1. A bubo; (2) a person
thus infected; and (3) generally
in contempt. [The stews (q.v.)
in Southwark were, in the 16th
century, under the jurisdiction of
the Bishop of Winchester.] Also
Winchester-pigeon.
1585. Nomenclator, 439. A sore in the grine or yard, which if it come by lecherie, it is called a Winchester goose, or a botch.
1594. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., vi. i. 3. [Of the Bishop of Winchester] Winchester goose, I say, a rope, a rope. Ibid. (1602), Troilus and Cressida. v. 11. It should be now, but that my fear is this, Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss.
1606. Chapman, Mons. D'Olive, iv. The court is the only school of good education, especially for pages and waiting women. Paris, or Padua, or the famous school of England called Winchester (famous I mean for the goose)—are but belfries to the body or school of the court.
1611. Cotgrave, Dict., s.v. Clapoir . . . Winchester goose.
1618. Rowley, Cure for a Cuckold, F. had belike some private dealings with her, and there got a goose.—The cunning jade comes into court, and there deposes that she gave him true Winchester measure.
d.1637. Jonson, Execr. of Vulcan [Works, vi. 410]. The Wincestrian goose, Bred on the Bank in time of popery, When Venus there maintain'd her mystery.
Wind, subs. (old literary: now
colloquial or vulgar).—1. Breath,
lung-power; and 2. (pugilists')
the stomach: i.e. 'below the
belt,' a forbidden point of attack
in legitimate boxing. Hence
winder = anything that deprives
one of the power of breathing;
to nap a winder = (1) to be hung,
and (2) get a settler (q.v.).
c.1362. York Plays, 258. Woman, thy wordis and thy wynde thou not waste. Ibid., 335. [A man after hard work says that] me wantis wynde.
c.1469. Coventry Mysteries, 226. My wynde is stoppyd, gon is my brethe.
. . . Political Poems [Furnivall], 79. Ye noye me soore in wastyng al this wynde For I haue seide y-noughe, as semethe me.
1525-37. [Ellis, Letters.] My wind was short.
