Who is willy nilly

Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented That you shall be my wife; your dowry 'greed on; And, Will you, nill you, I will marry you. First Clown: Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here stands the man; good; if the man go to this water, and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes.

The 'undecided' meaning of the expression appears to have spawned the later 'shilly-shally'. The OED is a little lax in dating this from the end of the 19th century. That makes the connection between 'willy-nilly' and 'shilly-shally' apparent.

However, there are literally thousands of 18th and 19th century pre-datings of the phrase, in various newspapers and works of literature; for example, The Adventures of Dick Hazard , What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? How 'literally' can mean "figuratively". Literally How to use a word that literally drives some pe Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice? The awkward case of 'his or her'. Take the quiz. Our Favorite New Words How many do you know? How Strong Is Your Vocabulary? Choose a dictionary. Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English.

Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English. Grammar Thesaurus. Word Lists. Choose your language. My word lists. Tell us about this example sentence:. The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Origin of willy-nilly —10; from the phrase will ye, nill ye. See will 1 , nill. Words related to willy-nilly haphazardly , ambivalent , inevitable , perforce , unavoidable.

How to use willy-nilly in a sentence These crafters of personal brands are the new Brooklyn Willy Lomans with only themselves to sell. The Red Year Louis Tracy.