Search the Dictionary

Mode of regard, whether favorable or unfavorable; favor or anger; mostly in Scriptural phrases. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee. Num. vi. 25. My face [favor] will I turn also from them. Ezek. vii. 22.

Privilege or permission, granted by favor or indulgence, to do a particular thing; authority; license; dispensation. The pope . . . granted him a faculty to set him free from his promise. Fuller. It had not only faculty to inspect all bishops' dioceses, but to change what laws and statutes they should think fit to alte…

A hobby ; freak; whim. -- Fad"dist, n. It is your favorite fad to draw plans. G. Eliot.

Not overcast; cloudless; clear; pleasant; propitious; favorable; - - said of the sky, weather, or wind, etc.; as, a fair sky; a fair day. You wish fair winds may waft him over. Prior.

Favorably; auspiciously; commodiously; as, a town fairly situated for foreign traade.

One who favors the practice of fallowing land. [R.] Sinclair.

Report or opinion generally diffused; renown; public estimation; celebrity, either favorable or unfavorable; as, the fame of Washington. I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited. Shak.

Established or favored by custom or use; current; prevailing at a particular time; as, the fashionable philosophy; fashionable opinions.

day appointed for fasting, humiliation, and religious offices as a means of invoking the favor of God. -- To break one's fast, to put an end to a period of abstinence by taking food; especially, to take one's morning meal; to breakfast. Shak.

A favorer; a patron; one who gives countenance or support; an abettor. [Obs.] The king and the fautors of his proceedings. Latimer.

A horse of a favel or dun color. To curry favel. See To curry favor, under Favor, n.

To court favor by low cringing, frisking, etc., as a dog; to flatter meanly; -- often followed by on or upon. You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds. Shak. Thou with trembling fear, Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest. Milton. Courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him. Macaulay.…

of the United States at its formation and adoption; a member of the political party which favored the administration of president Washington.

An unresticted or favorable opportunity for action, operation, or achievement; province; room. Afforded a clear field for moral experiments. Macaulay.

people, as thieves and whores; hence, a brothel. "A gang of footpads, reveling with their favorite beauties at a flash house." Macaulay.

To raise hopes in; to encourage or favorable, but sometimes unfounded or deceitful, representations.

An accidental and favorable stroke at billiards (called a scratch in the United States); hence, any accidental or unexpected advantage; as, he won by a fluke. [Cant, Eng.] A. Trollope.

To fly or flee from; to shun; to avoid. Sleep flies the wretch. Dryden. To fly the favors of so good a king. Shak.

To infatuate; to make foolish. Shak. For, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit. Dryden.

As soon as he had obtained a footing at court, the charms of his manner . . . made him a favorite. Macaulay.