Obs. exc. dial. Also 6 wysh(e)-, wishe-, 7 wishtly. [? Alteration of WISTLY adv. influenced by wish.] Steadfastly, fixedly, intently; occas. longingly. (Almost always qualifying look or some equivalent: cf. wistfully.)
1530. Palsgr., fol. 183. I cast my syght vpon a thyng to beholde it wyshely. Ibid. And sodaynly he caste his syght wyshely vpon me.
1533. More, Answ. Poysoned Bk., V. ii. Wks. 1134/2. Causing hym to putte on his spectacles, and pore better and more wishely with his olde eyen vpon saynt Iohns ghospell.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XI. 522. Æacides, that wishly did intend … how deepe the skirmish drew Amongst the Greeks.
1622. J. Abernethy, Chr. Treat. Physick Soule, v. 73. Thou must bee wishly exstimulate in thy conscience.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Matt. vi. 4. 186. He looketh wishtly, fixedly, steddily.
1660. S. Ford, Loyal Subj. Exult., 21. Those thousands of loyall Subjects, who had looked wishtly towards the royall Palace.
1680. R. L’Estrange, Erasm. Colloq., xiii. 186. Looking wishly up into the Air [orig. intentis in cœlum oculis].
1683. Cave, Ecclesiastici, App. 27. Woman, said he, tell me why dost thee so wishly behold me?
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Wishly, earnestly; wishfully; with longing…. ‘The children eyed the plum-pudding wishly.’
1902. Chas. Fielding Marsh, in Longman’s Mag., Nov., 40. I seed him yesterday a-cranen’ over th’ wall and eyen’ on her wishly.
