Unwill v.

[UN-² 3.]

  1.  a. trans. To will or resolve the reverse of (something one has willed); = UNRESOLVE v.

1650.  Howell, Giraffi’s Rev. Naples, I. 120. He wold will and unwill a thing at the same instant.

1678.  R. L’Estrange, Seneca’s Morals, III. 50. It is the Business of my Age to Unwill one day, that which I Will’d Another.

1849.  J. A. Carlyle, trans. Dante’s Inf., 16. One who unwills what he willed.

1870.  J. H. Newman, Gram. Assent, I. iv. 69. That which willed it, can unwill it.

1871.  Browning, Pr. Hohenst., 1472. What if the event demonstrate her unwise, If she unwill the thing she willed before?

  b.  With reference to WILL sb.¹ (= testament).

1660.  R. Coke, Power & Subj., 23. Therefore if a Man make twenty Wills, yet when he will, he may unwill them all.

1854.  Warter, Last of Old Squires, xviii. 195. [He saw] that there was a democratic Desire abroad to unwill what good Men in former Days had willed.

  c.  To revoke or reverse (one’s will or purpose).

1871.  Browning, Balaust., 163. Wouldst thou … Unwill thy will to reign a righteous king?

  2.  To divest of volition; to deprive (a person) of will-power.

1844.  Mrs. Browning, Duchesss May, III. vi. Now, your will is all unwilled—now, your pulses are all stilled.

1891.  Meredith, One of our Conq., I. xii. 232. For the precedent of submission is a charm upon the faint-hearted through love: it unwinds, unwills them.