Word of the week: fain

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Here is the word for this week:

fain \FEYN\, adverb:

1. Gladly; willingly.

adjective:

1. Content; willing.

2. Archaic: Constrained; obliged.

3. Archaic: Desirous; eager.

I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown; - yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets; - and, as I told you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it.

-- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

He would fain have ridden day and night, and grudged every halt for refreshment, so as almost to run the risk of making the men mutinous.

-- Charlotte M. Yonge, A Chaplet of Pearls

Fain has ancient roots in the Old English fæg, "happy."