0 present participle of wish
1 used with the past simple to express that you feel sorry or sad about a state or situation that exists at the moment:
2 to want to do something:
As you wish, Sir. It will be done.
[ + to infinitive ] I wish to make a complaint.
Passengers wishing to take the Kings Cross train should board now.
I don't wish to worry you but he did say he'd be back by midnight.
[ + obj + adj ] Sometimes I was so depressed that I wished myself dead.
I wish she'd shut up for a minute and let someone else talk.
3 to hope or express hope for another person's success or happiness or pleasure on a particular occasion:
4 to hope that something you want will be made real because of good luck or magical powers:
[ + that ] I remember blowing out the candles on my birthday cake and wishing that John Lee would be my boyfriend.
If I could wish myself anywhere in the world (= go anywhere as a result of making a wish) right now it would be somewhere hot and sunny.
He's funny, bright, handsome - everything a girl could wish for really.
"Your job must be very glamorous." "I wish!" (= not at all.)
"By the time I'm 40, I'll be rich." "You wish!" (= There is no chance of that happening.)
5 to welcome someone with particular words or a particular action:
He wishes me every morning.
I wish I hadn't overindulged so much last night.
He wished he was more muscular.
I wish I'd never volunteered to do the washing up.
I wish you'd do something about your bedroom - it's a real mess.
When we use wish followed by a verb in the to-infinitive form, wish means the same as want, but it is more formal. We do not normally use wish in the continuous form when we use it with a to-infinitive:
2 Wish + indirect object + direct object
We use wish with two objects, an indirect object + a direct object (underlined), for expressions of good wishes and hopes that good things will happen to people:
We use wish with a that-clause when we regret or are sorry that things are not different. We imagine a different past or present:
4 Wish + verb forms in the that-clause
The verb forms we use in that-clauses after wish are similar to the verb forms in conditional clauses after if. We use a past verb form for present and future meanings.
