wishern.
/ˈwɪʃə/, U.S. /ˈwɪʃər/ Now rare.
a. One who wishes. wishers and woulders: see wishers and woulders at woulder n..
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > wishing > [noun] > one who wishes
willer1443
wishers and woulders1509
wisherc1520
would-be1732
c1520 Parl. Byrdes (de Worde) sig. A.ii v Wysshers wanton wyll.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) iii. sig. Gg2 Many times he wished himself the back of an Asse,..(an vnfortunate wisher, for if he had aswell wished the head, it had bene graunted him).
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iv. xvi. 38 Wishers were euer Fooles. View more context for this quotation
1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy Pref. sig. A5v I am..only an honest and hearty wisher, that the best of our Clergy might forever continue as they are.
1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. i. 6 The safest way..to take off the force of the wish, is..to..wish the wisher something in return.
1846 M. A. Denham Coll. Prov. & Pop. Sayings (Percy Soc.) 31 A March wisher is never a good fisher.
1905 F. Maybrick My Fifteen Lost Years 133 If a prisoner has any complaint to make or wishes to seek advice, she asks to have her name put down to see the governor. She is then termed a ‘wisher’ and is ‘seen’ by him in his office in the presence of the chief matron.
b. qualified by evil, ill, well (see ill-wisher n., well-wisher n.).
ΚΠ
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso (1674) ii. lxxxviii. 241 To take an evil wishers life away.
1746 H. Walpole Let. 1 Aug. in Corr. (1954) XIX When the Peers were going to vote Lord Foley withdrew as too well a wisher.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1928; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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