would

Multiple Entries:
  would    will  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
would/wəd/

▶modal verb (3rd sing. present would)

• 1 past of will1, in various senses.

• 2 (expressing the conditional mood) indicating the consequence of an imagined event.

  ■ (I would) used to give advice.

• 3 expressing a desire.

  ■ expressing consent.

• 4 expressing a polite request.

• 5 expressing a conjecture or opinion.

• 6 literary expressing a wish or regret.

– origin OE wolde, past of wyllan (see will1).

usage:
On the differences in use between would and should, see usage at should
For a discussion of the use of would of instead of would have, see usage at have.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
will1

▶modal verb (3rd sing. present will; past would)

• 1 expressing the future tense.

  ■ expressing a strong intention or assertion about the future.

• 2 expressing inevitable events.

• 3 expressing a request.

  ■ expressing desire, consent, or willingness.

• 4 expressing facts about ability or capacity.

• 5 expressing habitual behaviour.

• 6 expressing probability or expectation about something in the present.

– origin OE wyllan, of Gmc origin.

usage: On the differences in use between will and shall, see usage at shall.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
will2

▶noun

• 1 the faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action.

  ■ (also willpower) control or restraint deliberately exerted.

  ■ a desire or intention.

• 2 a legal document containing instructions for the disposition of one's money and property after one's death.

▶verb

• 1 chiefly formal or literary intend or desire to happen.

  ■ bring about by the exercise of mental powers.

• 2 (will something to) bequeath something to.

  ■ leave specified instructions in one's will.

– phrases
at will at whatever time or in whatever way one pleases.
have a will of one's own have a wilful character.
with the best will in the world however good one's intentions.
with a will energetically and resolutely.

– derivatives
-willed adjective,
willer noun.

– origin OE willa (n.), willian (v.), of Gmc origin; rel. to will1 and the adverb well1.