should

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   simple past of shall

   I told him that I should be busy tomorrow.

2. 2
   verb

   Ought to; indicating opinion, advice, or instruction, about what is required or desirable.

   You should never drink and drive.

3. 3
   verb

   Ought to; expressing expectation.

   They should have finished by now; I'll call them to check.

4. 4
   verb

   Used to form a variant of the present subjunctive, expressing a state or action that is hypothetical, potential, mandated, etc.

   If I should be late, I should hope that you are prepared to go on without me.

5. 5
   verb

   An alternative to would with first person subjects.

   If I had not been so tired, I should have laughed heartily.

6. 6
   verb

   To suggest (that someone ought to do something, or that something ought to be the case) by, or as if by, using the word should.

   I'd prefer that she stop shoulding me. I prefer that I stop shoulding me. I prefer that I stop shoulding her.

7. 7
   noun

   Something that ought to be the case as opposed to already being the case.

   When the golf ball is there, the whole self-interference package — the hopes, worries, and fears; the thoughts on how-to and how-not-to; the woulds, the coulds, and the shoulds — is there too.

8. 8
   verb

   To make a statement of what ought to be true, as opposed to reality.

Etymology

From Middle English scholde, from Old English sċolde, first and third person preterite form of sċulan (“should,” “have to,” “to owe”), the ancestor of English shall. By surface analysis, shall + -ed. Cognate with German sollte, Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (skulda), Swedish skulle. Related to Middle English shild and shildy. The loss of /l/ in this word is probably due to weak stress, as in would and could (though in the latter, the /l/ was due to the analogy of the former two).