Wish, n.
1. Desire; eager desire; longing. Behold, I am according to thy wish in God a stead. Job xxxiii. 6.
2. Expression of desire; request; petition; hence, invocation or imprecation. Blistered be thy tongue for such a wish. Shak.
3. A thing desired; an object of desire. Will he, wise, let loose at once his ire . . . To give his enemies their wish! Milton.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Wish, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wished; p. pr. & vb. n. Wishing.]
1. To have a desire or yearning; to long; to hanker. They cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. Acts xxvii. 29. This is as good an argument as an antiquary could wish for. Arbuthnot.
Wish, v. t.
1. To desire; to long for; to hanker after; to have a mind or disposition toward. I would not wish Any companion in the world but you. Shak. I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper. 3. John 2.
2. To frame or express desires concerning; to invoke in favor of, or against, any one; to attribute, or cal down, in desire; to invoke; to imprecate. I would not wish them to a fairer death. Shak. I wish it may not prove some ominous foretoken of misfortune to have met with such a miser as I am. Sir P. Sidney. Let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil. Ps. xl. 14.
3. To recommend; to seek confidence or favor in behalf of. [Obs.] Shak. I would be glad to thrive, sir, And I was wished to your worship by a gentleman. B. Jonson.
Syn. -- See Desire.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for wish; he lists it under desire.
Where he writes about it:
Desire has a wide range, from the highest objects to the lowest; desire is for an object near at hand, or near in thought, and viewed as attainable; a wish may be for what is remote or uncertain, or even for what is recognized as impossible. — from desire