a. [f. L. anxi-us troubled in mind (f. ang-ĕre to choke, distress) + -OUS.]
1. Troubled or uneasy in mind about some uncertain event; being in painful or disturbing suspense; concerned, solicitous.
1623. Cockeram, Anxious, Carefull.
1636. Rutherford, Lett., vi. Often anxious, and cast down for the case of my oppressed brother.
1711. Pope, Rape Lock, II. 142. They wait, Anxious, and trembling for the birth of Fate.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. xxxvii. Allan strained his anxious eye.
b. Const., of an issue dreaded (obs.); for an issue desired; about a thing or person involved in uncertain issues.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 4, ¶ 1. It being the worst way in the world to Fame, to be too anxious about it.
1726. Ld. Lansdowne, Poems, 136 (J.).
| Who, anxious of Neglect, suspecting Change, | |
| Consults her Pride, and meditates Revenge. |
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 197. The counsellors of Charles … were anxious for their own safety.
2. Fraught with trouble or solicitude, distressing, worrying. (Obs. exc. where it can be explained as a transferred use of 1, as anxious cares, i.e., such as anxious people cherish. So anxious seats, benches: those set apart for anxious inquirers.)
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 185. Life, from which God hath bid dwell farr off all anxious cares.
1679. Penn, Addr. Prot., II. iv. (1692), 117. That which is most of all Anxious is that Morality is denyed to be Christianity.
1744. Harris, Three Treat. III. I. 130. Is not both the Possession and Pursuit of Wealth, to those who really love it, ever anxious?
1837. Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 232. Settin’ on the anxious benches.
3. Full of desire and endeavor; solicitous; earnestly desirous (to effect some purpose).
1742. R. Blair, Grave, 94. The gentle heart, anxious to please.
1794. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., I. 434. The General seems as anxious as any of us to expedite the fall of the place.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr. (1858), 171. Anxious no longer to be dumb.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 13. 93. I was anxious to see many parts of it once more.
