Word Study
willy-nilly
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Adverbial willy-nilly has 2 senses
- willy-nilly(r = adv.all) arbitrarily, at random, every which way, haphazardly, indiscriminately, randomly - in a random manner; "the houses were randomly scattered"; "bullets were fired into the crowd at random"
- willy-nilly(r = adv.all) Array - without having a choice; Array
OXFORD DICTIONARY
willy-nilly, adv. & adj.
--adv. whether one likes it or not.
--adj. existing or occurring willy-nilly.
--adv. whether one likes it or not.
--adj. existing or occurring willy-nilly.
Etymology
later spelling of will I, nill I I am willing, I am unwilling
For further exploring for "willy-nilly" in Webster Dictionary Online
