would

verb 'd · wou'd

1. auxiliary Used to form the "anterior future", or "future in the past", indicating a futurity relative to a past time. On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.
2. auxiliary Used to, did repeatedly, habitually; indicates an action that happened several times in the past (cannot describe continuous states, as in I used to live in London) When we were younger, we would cycle out to the beach most summer Sundays.

   Similar: used to

3. auxiliary Was or were determined to; indicating someone's insistence upon doing something. I asked her to stay in with me, but she would go out.
4. archaic, auxiliary Wanted to. And thenne at laste a-nother sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel.
5. archaic, auxiliary Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses. At which time he told me, he would to London that week, and so to Oxford.
6. auxiliary, obsolete Wished, desired (something).
7. auxiliary Used as the auxiliary of the simple conditional modality, indicating a state or action that is conditional on another. If I won the lottery, I would give half the money to charity.
8. auxiliary Without explicit condition, or with loose or vague implied condition, indicating a hypothetical or imagined state or action. I would love to come and visit.
9. auxiliary Suggesting conditionality or potentiality in order to express a sense of politeness, tentativeness, indirectness, hesitancy, uncertainty, etc. I would ask you all to sit down.
10. auxiliary Used to express what the speaker would do in another person's situation, as a means of giving a suggestion or recommendation. It's disgraceful the way that they've treated you. I would write and complain.
11. auxiliary Used to express the speaker's belief or assumption. She looked as if she would be sick.
12. auxiliary Could naturally be expected to (given the situation, the tendencies of someone's character etc.). Sorry, officer, I wouldn't know anything about the crime, since I was nowhere near the scene.
13. auxiliary Used interrogatively to express a polite request; are (you) willing to …? Would you pass the salt, please?
14. archaic, auxiliary Might wish (+ verb in past subjunctive); often used in the first person (with or without that) in the sense of "if only". PARIS My lord, I would that Thursday were tomorrow.
15. archaic, auxiliary Might desire; wish (something). What dost thou professe? What would’st thou with vs?

Similar: be so good as to, kindly, please

noun woulds · 'd · wou'd

1. Something that would happen, or would be the case, under different circumstances; a potentiality. When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package — the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds — is there too.

interjection 'd · wou'd

1. abbreviation, ellipsis, idiomatic, slang Ellipsis of I would, used to denote that the speaker finds another person sexually attractive.