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especially of a request, prayer, petition, claim, charge, etc. He spake, and to her hand preferred the bowl. Pope. Presently prefer his suit to Cæsar. Shak. Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high. Byron.

The quality or state of being preferable; preferableness. J. S. Mill.

Worthy to be preferred or chosen before something else; more desirable; as, a preferable scheme. Addison.

The quality or state of being preferable.

In preference; by choice. To choose Plautus preferably to Terence. Dennis.

The act of Preferring, or the state of being preferred; the setting of one thing before another; precedence; higher estimation; predilection; choice; also, the power or opportunity of choosing; as, to give him his preference. Leave the critics on either side to contend about the preference due to this or that sort of p…

Giving, indicating, or having a preference or precedence; as, a preferential claim; preferential shares.

ting, as at primaries, in which the voters are allowed to indicate on their ballots their preference (usually their first and second choices) between two or more candidates for an office, so that if no candidate receives a majority of first choices the one receiving the greatest number of first and second choices toget…

The act of choosing, or the state of being chosen; preference. [R.] Natural preferment of the one . . . before the other. Sir T. Browne.

One who prefers.

bial sense. See Above, adv., 4.) above all, before every other consideration; chiefly; in preference to other things. Over and above, prep. or adv., besides; in addition to.

To rise in rank, office, or consequence; to be preferred or promoted. Advanced to a level with ancient peers. Prescott.

To make low or humble. [Obs.] Spenser. Men are apt to prefer a prosperous error before an afflicted truth. Jer. Taylor.

An agriculturist (which is the preferred form.)

Same as Almug (and etymologically preferable). 2 Chron. ii. 8.

alternatives. Having to choose between two alternatives, safety and war, you obstinately prefer the worse. Jowett (Thucyd. ).

An eager, and sometimes an inordinate, desire for preferment, honor, superiority, power, or the attainment of something. Cromwell, I charge thee, fling a way ambition: By that sin fell the angels. Shak. The pitiful ambition of possessing five or six thousand more acres. Burke.

The first year's profits of a spiritual preferment, anciently paid by the clergy to the pope; first fruits. In England, they now form a fund for the augmentation of poor livings.

To put before; to prefer. [Obs.] Bailey.

in which skill is so employed, as in painting and sculpture; one of the fine arts; as, he prefers art to literature.