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To set above or before something else in estimation, favor, or liking; to regard or honor before another; to hold in greater favor; to choose rather; -- often followed by to, before, or above. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Ps. cxxxvii. 6. Preferred an infamous peace before a most just war. Knolles. Pref…

That which is preferred; the object of choice or superior favor; as, which is your preference

prejudice; to give a previous inclination to, for or against anything; esp., to induce a favorable opinion beforehand, or at the outset. It created him enemies, and prepossessed the lord general. Evelyn.

Tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive; as, a prepossessing manner. -- Pre`pos*sess"ing*ly, adv.

preconceived opinion; previous impression; bias; -- generally, but not always, used in a favorable sense; as, the prepossessions of childhood. "The prejudices and prepossessions of the country." Sir W. Scott.

One who favors or practices art as it was before Raphael; one who favors or advocates preraphaelitism.

Favorably attentive; propitious. [Archaic] To find a god so present to my prayer. Dryden. Present tense (Gram.), the tense or form of a verb which expresses action or being in the present time; as, I am writing, I write, or I do write.

etension given out by the Spaniards. Bacon. Men indulge those opinions and practices that favor their pretensions. L'Estrange.

One whose chief interest is in the past; one who regards the past with most pleasure or favor.

The act of anticipating another's wishes, desires, etc., in the way of favor or courtesy; hence, civility; obligingness. [Obs.] Sterne.

So called because primrose was (erroneously, it is said) taken to be the favorite flower of the Conservative statesman Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield.

A peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor; a right or immunity not enjoyed by others or by all; special enjoyment of a good, or exemption from an evil or burden; a prerogative; advantage; franchise. He pleads the legal privilege of a Roman. Kettlewell. The privilege birthright was a double portion. Locke. A people inheri…

of the occurrence of any event in the doctrine of chances, or the ratio of the number of favorable chances to the whole number of chances, favorable and unfavorable. See 1st Chance, n., 5.

One who favors prohibitory duties on foreign goods in commerce; a protectionist.

To oblige; to confer a favor on. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

To lean toward a thing; to be favorably inclined or disposed; to incline; to tend. [R.] Shak. We shall propend to it, as a stone falleth down. Barrow.

To appease to render favorable; to make propitious; to conciliate. Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage, The god propitiate, and the pest assuage. Pope.

The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious.

Convenient; auspicious; favorable; kind; as, a propitious season; a propitious breeze.

without a proportionable degree of wisdom. Burke. Proportionable, which is no longer much favored, was of our [i. e., English writers'] own coining. Fitzed. Hall.