fain

fain [feɪn] adv.

1.) With joy; gladly; with wold.

fain a.

1.) Well-pleased; glad; apt; wont; fond; inclined.
2.) Satisfied; contented; also, constrained.

fain v. i. & t.

1.) (Obs.) To be glad; to wish or desire (GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English).

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English fægen, joyful, glad.

"The port would fain give succor; the port is pitiful; in the port is safety, comfort, hearthstone, supper, warm blankets, friends, all that's kind to our mortalities. But in that gale, the port, the land, is that ship's direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through. With all her might she crowds all sail off shore; in so doing, fights 'gainst the very winds that fain would blow her homeward; seeks all the lashed sea's landlessness again; for refuge's sake forlornly rushing into peril; her only friend her bitterest foe!" (Moby-Dick, Herman Melville, 1851).

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I'd like to apologize to anyone who watched El Clasico last night on my recommendation. What a farce of a game. It was like an unconscious self-parody of Continental football. I have to say, though, that I find myself agreeing with Mourinho (who claimed that Barcelona receive consistently favorable decisions from the referees), mainly because of that ridiculous Van Persie red card a few weeks ago.