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eceding in dignity, order, rank, right, or worth; rather than. He that cometh after me is preferred before me. John i. 15. The eldest son is before the younger in succession. Johnson.

An ecclesiastical living and church preferment, as in the Church of England; a church endowed with a revenue for the maintenance of divine service. See Advowson.

Preferable in regard to rank, value, use, fitness, acceptableness, safety, or in any other respect. To obey is better than sacrifice. 1 Sam. xv. 22. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Ps. cxviii. 9.

Celibate state; celibacy. [Obs.] He . . . preferreth holy celibate before the estate of marrige. Jer. Taylor.

r dispute about a purchase; to bargain; to haggle or higgle; to negotiate. To chaffer for preferments with his gold. Dryden.

osing; the voluntary act of selecting or separating from two or more things that which is preferred; the determination of the mind in preferring one thing to another; election.

With care in choosing; with nice regard to preference. "A band of men collected choicely, from each county some." Shak.

t, or to change its phase; --called also reactance coil or reactor, these terms being now preferred in engineering usage.

To make choice of; to select; to take by way of preference from two or more objects offered; to elect; as, to choose the least of two evils. Choose me for a humble friend. Pope.

Bold; spirited; showy. The dashing and daring spirit is preferable to the listless. T. Campbell.

mmediate charge of the cathedral and its estates. -- Dean of peculiars, a dean holding a preferment which has some peculiarity relative to spiritual superiors and the jurisdiction exercised in it. [Eng.] -- Rural dean, one having, under the bishop, the especial care and inspection of the clergy within certain parishes…

A yielding of judgment or preference from respect to the wishes or opinion of another; submission in opinion; regard; respect; complaisance. Deference to the authority of thoughtful and sagacious men. Whewell. Deference is the most complicate, the most indirect, and the most elegant of all compliments. Shenstone.…

Choice; preference. [Obs.] That now be chooseth with vile difference To be a beast, and lack intelligence. Spenser.

rank; honorable station; high office, political or ecclesiastical; degree of excellence; preferment; exaltation. Macaulay. And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this Esth. vi. 3. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, . . . the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Gen. xlix. 3…

With distinction; with some mark of preference. Pope.

to serve; as, if no better plan can be found, he will make this do. You would do well to prefer a bill against all kings and parliaments since the Conquest; and if that won't do; challenge the crown. Collier. To do by. See under By. -- To do for. (a) To answer for; to serve as; to suit. (b) To put an end to; to ruin;…

A minute quantity; a mite. Were I the chooser, a dram of well-doing should be preferred before many times as mush the forcible hindrance of evildoing. Milton.

of air moving through an inclosed place, as through a room or up a chimney. Thackeray. He preferred to go and sit upon the stairs, in . . . a strong draught of air, until he was again sent for. Dickens.

istry of religion; a clergyman; a priest. From a humble ecclesiastic, he was subsequently preferred to the highest dignities of the church. Prescott.

Chosen; taken by preference from among two or more. "Colors quaint elect." Spenser.