·noun ·see 2d Weld.
II. Would ·Impf of Will.
III. Would ·vt Commonly used as an auxiliary verb, either in the past tense or in the conditional or optative present. ·see 2d & 3d Will.
·adj Desiring or professing to be; vainly pretending to be; as, a would-be poet. ...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language