noun
Meaning 1
One who harbours ill will.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
Examples
- 1628, Francis Fletcher et al., The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, London: Nicholas Bourne, 1652, p. 30, Proofs were required and alleadged, so many, and so evident, that the Gentleman himself, stricken with remorse of his inconsiderate and unkind dealing, acknowledged himself to have deserved death, yea many deaths; for that he conspired, not only the overthrow of the action, but of the principall Actor also, who was not a stranger or ill-willer, but a deare and true friend unto him [...]
- 1736, Benjamin Franklin, Preface, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1736, in The Prefaces, Proverbs and Poems of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Paul Leicester Ford, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1889, p. 58, These ill-willers of mine, despited at the great reputation I gain’d by exactly predicting another man’s death, have endeavoured to deprive me of it all at once in the most effectual manner, by reporting that I myself was never alive.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: evil willer
Antonyms: good willer, well-willer, well-wisher