intention

Etymology

From Middle English entencioun, intention, from Old French entencion, from Latin intentiō, intentiōnem. Compare intent.

noun

1. A course of action that a person intends to follow.
   My intention was to marry a wealthy widow.
   It’s easy to promise anything when you have no intention of fulfilling any of it.
   a. 1784, attributed to Samuel Johnson Hell is paved with good intentions.
   It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. And results are all that concern me.[…]” 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court
2. The goal or purpose.
   The intention of this legislation is to boost the economy.
   Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone. 1 June 2008, A. Dirk Moses, “Preface”, in Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History, Berghahn Books, page x
3. (obsolete) Tension; straining, stretching.
   cold in those inner parts, cold belly, and hot liver, causeth crudity, and intention proceeds from perturbations […]. , I.iii.3
4. A stretching or bending of the mind toward an object or a purpose (an intent); closeness of application; fixedness of attention; earnestness.
5. (obsolete) The object toward which the thoughts are directed; end; aim.
   In a Word, the most part of chronical Distempers proceed from Laxity of Fibres; in which Case the principal Intention is to restore the Tone of the solid Parts; […]. 1732, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Ailments …, Prop. II, p.159
6. (obsolete) Any mental apprehension of an object.
7. (medicine) The process of the healing of a wound.
   When healing occurs by primary intention, the wound is basically closed with all areas of the wound connecting and healing simultaneously. 2007, Carie Ann Braun, Cindy Miller Anderson, Pathophysiology: Functional Alterations in Human Health, page 49

verb

1. To intend.