a. [The verbal phrase used attributively.] That would have liked to be, that aimed at being, (something specified).
1744. Eliza Heywood, Female Spect., V. (1748), I. 233. Her penetrating eyes immediately discovered her would-have-been gallant. Ibid., VII. II. 29. The would-have-been member was ready to burst with inward rage at this sneer.
1844. Alb. Smith, Adv. Mr. Ledbury, xxxiv. The would-have-been assassin of Louis the Fifteenth.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 16 Nov., 7/1. The hunt goes forward after the would-have-been invaders of Natal.
