Definition of "ready"

If need be, I am ready to forego / And quit:

1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], page 87

she was told dinner was ready

1711, Jonathan Swift, journal to Stella

Miranda: I'll admit it, Shepard. I'm impressed. You got us here. Are you ready?Shepard: We're going in blind, and we don't even know if we'll survive the trip. No way in hell we're ready... but we don't have a choice.

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2

My heart is ready to crack.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]

whose temper was ready, though surly

1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […]

ready in devising expedients

1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 13, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans

Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], page 16

"Apple of Death" is what the Jungle call thorn-apple or dhatura, the readiest poison in all India.

1895, Rudyard Kipling, “The King’s Ankus”, in The Second Jungle Book, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., page 188

The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.

2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848

Through the wilde Deſert, not the readieſt way,

1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, line 1097

A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.

1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria

[H]e vvas not fluſh in Ready, either to go to Lavv or clear old Debts, neither could he find good Bail: […]

1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “A Copy of Bull and Frog’s Letter to Lord Strutt”, in Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], page 8

[…] he was generous when he had the cash. Many a time he kept me going in drink through the week when I was stuck for the ready […]

2008, Agnes Owens, The Group