will

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action.
• noun Diligent purposefulness; determination.
• noun Self-control; self-discipline.
• noun A desire, purpose, or determination, especially of one in authority.
• noun Deliberate intention or wish.
• noun Free discretion; inclination or pleasure.
• noun Bearing or attitude toward others; disposition.
• noun A legal declaration of how a person wishes his or her possessions to be disposed of after death.
• noun A legally executed document containing this declaration.
• intransitive verb To decide on or intend.
• intransitive verb To yearn for; desire.
• intransitive verb To decree, dictate, or order.
• intransitive verb To induce or try to induce by sheer force of will.
• intransitive verb To grant in a legal will; bequeath.
• intransitive verb To order to direct in a legal will.
• intransitive verb To exercise the will.
• intransitive verb To make a choice; choose.
• idiom (at will) Just as or when one wishes.
• auxiliary verb Used to indicate simple futurity.
• auxiliary verb Used to indicate likelihood or certainty.
• auxiliary verb Used to indicate willingness.
• auxiliary verb Used to indicate requirement or command.
• auxiliary verb Used to indicate intention.
• auxiliary verb Used to indicate customary or habitual action.
• auxiliary verb Used to indicate capacity or ability.
• auxiliary verb Used to indicate probability or expectation.
• transitive & intransitive verb To wish; desire.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To wander; go astray; be lost, at a loss, or bewildered.
• A As an independent verb.
• To wish; desire; want; be willing to have (a certain thing done): now chiefly used in the subjunctive (optative) preterit form would governing a clause: as, I would that the day were at hand. When in the first person the subject is frequently omitted: as, would that ye had listened to us!
• Would in optative expressions is often followed by a dative, with or without to, noting the person or power by whom the wish may be fulfilled: hence the phrases would (to) God, would (to) heaven, etc.
• To have a wish or desire; be willing.
• B. As an auxiliary, followed by an infinitive without to.
• To wish, want, like, or agree (to do, etc.); to be (am, is, are, was, etc.) willing (to do, etc.): noting desire, preference, consent, or, negatively, refusal.
• To be (am, is, are, etc.) determined (to do, etc.): said when one insists on or persists in being or doing something; hence, must, as a matter of will or pertinacity; do (emphatic auxiliary) from choice, wilfulness, determination, or persistence.
• To make (it) a habit or practice (to do, etc.); be (am, is, are, etc.) accustomed (to do, etc.); do usually: noting frequent or customary action.
• To be (am, is, are, etc.) sure (to do, etc.); do undoubtedly, inevitably, or of necessity; ought or have (to do, etc.); must: used in incontrovertible or general statements, and often, especially in provincial use, forming a verbphrase signifying no more than the simple verb: as, I'm thinking this will be (that is, this is) your daughter.
• To be (am, is, are, etc.) ready or about (to do, etc.): said of one on the point of doing something not necessarily accomplished.
• In future and conditional constructions, to be (am, is, are, etc.) (to do, etc.): in general noting in the first person a promise or determination, and in the second and third mere assertion of a future occurrence without reference to the will of the subject, other verb-phrases being compounded with the auxiliary shall. For a more detailed discrimination between will and shall, see shall, B., 2.
• In such constructions will is sometimes found where precision would require shall. See shall, B., final note.
• [Would is often used for will in order to avoid a dogmatic style or to soften blunt or harsh assertions, questions, etc.
• In all its senses the auxiliary will may be used with an ellipsis of the following infinitive.
• noun Wish; desire; pleasure; inclination; choice.
• noun That which is wished for or desired; express wish; purpose; determination.
• noun Wish; request; command.
• noun Expressed wish with regard to the disposal of one's property, or the like, after death; the document containing such expression of one's wishes; especially, in law, the legal declaration of a person's intentions, to take effect after his death.