Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- at one's preference; as one sees fit
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. at pleasure. To hold an estate at the will of another, is to enjoy the possession at his pleasure, and be liable to be ousted at any time by the lessor or proprietor. An estate at will is at the will of both parties.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adv. as one chooses or pleases
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
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The broad, deep waters about Manhattan Island afforded easy access to the enemy fleet, which could come and go at will up the Hudson and East Rivers and interpose itself between whatever scattered positions the Americans chose to man.
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Such horrors as these had pretty well ceased by that time, though still many Nengonese were heathen, and the priests were firmly believed to have the power of producing death and disease at will by a curse.
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The Yellow Fever Commission had, in all, produced at will and under perfect control fourteen cases of unmistakable yellow fever between the opening of Camp Lazear on November 20th and [February] 10th, without the loss of a single life.
Manuscript Draft: Walter Reed: Doctor in Uniform, by Laura Wood, [19 -- ]
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The first experiment was complex, but two results stand out: (1) when alcohol-preferring rats were allowed to drink alcohol at will for a period of three months, the amount of DBI in the cerebellum and hypothalamus rose significantly, and (2) when alcohol-nonpreferring rats were subjected to the same experiment, no such increase was obtained.
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Anticipating perhaps the research of the present and the potential progress of the future, Tibetan scholar Evans-Wentz wrote, “By applying the yoga of the dream state, of the Bardo and of Transference, mankind would become masters of all states of consciousness, and be able to pass at will from the waking-state to the dream-state, and from the state called life to the state called death, and vice versa.”
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Go to Janesville, Wisconsin or Moraine, Ohio and talk to the workers at General Motors who just found out the plants they labored their entire lives at will be closed forever; or the thousands of truck drivers and airline workers who will lose their jobs because of the debilitating cost of fuel.
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The exaltation which she had described as being producible at will by gazing at a star, came now without any determination of hers; she undulated upon the thin notes of the second-hand harp, and their harmonies passed like breezes through her, bringing tears into her eyes.
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I believe that this little monograph is the first utterance of the thought that each individual has the ability so to radiate his mental forces that he can cause the Dollars to feel him, love him, seek him, and thus draw at will all things needed for his unfoldment from the universal supply.
The Profits of Religion: An Essay in Economic Interpretation
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As comfortable as he was on this world, with its all-pervasive emotional projections that he could sift through or block out at will depending on his mood, he could not face Tse-Mallory or Truzenzuzex again knowing he had made less than a halfhearted effort to locate the wandering Tar-Aiym weapons platform.
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Helena-Ascension-Freetown route, and once again the pocket battleship would be free to move about at will instead of worrying about a slow merchant ship follow ing along astern loaded with prisoners.
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