Will

Clipping of William or, less often, other given names beginning with Wil-, such as Wilfred or Willard.

• IPA^(key): /wɪl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: will
• Rhymes: -ɪl

Will

1. A diminutive of the male given name William or, less often, other given names beginning with Wil-, such as Wilfred or Willard, from the Germanic languages; also used as a formal given name.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 136”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature I, recto:

     Make but my name thy loue, and loue that ſtill, / And then thou loueſt me for my name is Will.

   • 1998, Nick Hornby, About A Boy, Victor Gollancz, published 1998, →ISBN, page 208:

     One of his neighbours opposite, a nice old guy with a stoop and a horrible little Yorkshire terrier, called him Bill - always had done and presumably always would, right up till the day he died. It actually irritated Will, who was not, he felt, by any stretch of the imagination, a Bill. Bill wouldn't smoke spliffs and listen to Nirvana. So why had he allowed this misapprehension to continue? Why hadn't he just said, four years ago, "Actually my name is Will"?

   • 2022 June 1, Kristen Rogers, “What causes alopecia, a ‘devastating’ hair loss condition affecting Jada Pinkett Smith”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Jada Pinkett Smith found herself at the center of conflict when her husband Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony March 27. Rock joked about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head – a look she has said is more than a style preference.

   • 2025 January 9, Adam Platt, “In Conversation with Will Stancil”, in Mpls.St.Paul‎^[2], archived from the original on 11 January 2025:

     Will Stancil was a relatively anonymous researcher at the University of Minnesota until he forced his way into circles of intellectual and political elites on Twitter during the Biden reelection campaign.

2. A surname originating as a patronymic.

• Will County
• Willie
• Will Rogers phenomenon
• Willy

• Bill

Will (plural Wills)

1. (American football) A weak-side linebacker.
   • 1997, F Henderson, M Olson, Football's West Coast Offense, page 7:

     Will linebacker drops to turn-in, QB dropping dumps the ball off to HB.

   • 2000, American Football Coaches Association, Defensive Football Strategies, page 25:

     Our Will linebacker, because he is away from the formation or to the split end, should be a great pursuit man and pass defender.
     Will covers the back side hook zone on the weak side.

• Sam