willy

Meanings

Adjective

• Willing; favourable; ready; eager.
• Self-willed; willful.

Noun

• Alternative of willow
• A willow basket.
• A fish basket.
• the penis.
• A person who is manipulated into serving as a useful agent without knowing it.

Verb

• To cleanse wool or cotton, etc. with a willy, or willow.

Origin

• From Middle English willy, willi, equivalent to will + -y. Cognate with Dutch willig ("obedient, hearsome"), German willig ("willing"), Swedish villig ("willing, agreeable").
• From Middle English wilȝe, from Old English wiliġ ("willow"). More at willow.
• From Middle English wilie, from Old English wiliġe, wileġe, from Proto-Germanic *wiligō ("wicker basket"), from Proto-Indo-European *weliko- ("willow-tree"). More at weel, willow.
• Originally northern British usage, from the 1960s. Probably the simple use of a proper name as a pet name; compare dick, fanny and peter. Unlikely to be a contraction of Latin membrum virile, male member (that is, the penis), a Latin term used in English in the nineteenth century.