Etymology

Verb

1. To suppose; to think, believe.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book IV:

     ther cam a damoisel from Morgan le fay and brought vnto syr Arthur a swerd lyke vnto Excalibur [...], and he thanked her, & wende it had ben so, but she was fals, for the swerd and the scauberd was counterfeet & brutyll and fals.

2. To expect, hope or wish.

Quotations

• 1793, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel

  But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder,

  Shall wholly do away, I ween,

  The marks of that which once hath been.

• 1884, W.S. Gilbert, Princess Ida

  Yet humble second shall be first, I ween

• 1974, Stanislaw Lem, The Cyberiad

  Klapaucious too I ween, will turn a shade of green, to hear such flawless verse, from Trurl's great machine.