prefer

present singular third person prefers · participle present preferring · participle past preferred · past preferred · alternative archaic præfer · alternative obsolete præferre · alternative obsolete preferre

1. transitiveTo be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better.First known use 14th c.

   I prefer tea to coffee.

   5 more examples

   I'd prefer it if you didn't do it.

   I'd prefer to stay home rather than drive/driving in the blizzard.

   You that will be leſſe fearefull, then diſcreet, That loue the fundamentall part of State More then you doubt the change on’t: That preferre A Noble life, before a Long,[…]

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 15, column 2

   "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects;[…]."

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   The February kid he should retain, also the full-grown goat; the goatling he should sell, also its kid, unless he prefers using it for the table. Thus he has not only a good supply of milk, but he has an early kid ready for next year, […]

   1907, The Quarterly Review, volume 207, page 119

   Synonyms: fain, favor, forechoose · Antonyms: disprefer

2. datedtransitiveTo advance, promote (someone or something).First known use 14th c.

   Tiberius preferred many to honours in his time, because they were famous whoremasters and sturdy drinkers[…].

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 3, member 2

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   So ſhall you haue a ſhorter iourney to your deſires, by the meanes I ſhall then haue to preferre them. And the impediment moſt profitably remoued, without the which there were no expectation of our proſperitie.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 318, column 2

   And the maiden pleaſed him, and ſhe obtained kindneſſe of him,[…], and hee preferred her and her maids, vnto the beſt place of the houſe of the women.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 2:9, column 2

   For this Reaſon, I preſume, it was, that ſhe took ſo much Compaſſion upon me ; conſidering herſelf a Slave in a ſtrange Country, and on­ly preferr’d to my Maſter’s Bed by Courteſy.

   1743, Drury, Robert (sailor; author), THE Pleaſant, and Surprizing ADVENTURES OF Mr. Robert Drury, DURING HIS Fifteen Years CAPTIVITY on the Iſland OF MADAGASCAR, London, published 1743, →OCLC, page 67

   Synonyms: elevate, raise, uplift, advance, aggrandize, dignify, elevate, ennoble

3. transitiveTo present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges").First known use 16th c.

   […], let him go, And preſently preferre his ſuite to Cæſar.

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 118, column 2

   1 more example

   At length the Maroons, who were delighted to have him with them, became diſ­con­tent­ed with his abſence, and for ſeveral years, during the ſeſſions of the Houſe of Aſſembly, preferred repeated complaints againſt him.

   1803, Dallas, Robert Charles (author), The History of the Maroons, volume 1, London: Longman and Rees, published 1803, →OCLC, Letter 5, page 137

4. obsoletetransitiveTo put forward for acceptance; to introduce, recommend (to).First known use 16th–19th c.

   one Master David Hume, who making some use of his purse, gave him Letters to his friends in Scotland to preferre him to King Iames.

   1630, John Smith, chapter 1, in The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith, London: Thomas Slater, page 2

   1 more example

   Such were the arguments which my will boldly preferred to my conscience, as coin which ought to be current; and which conscience, like a grumbling shopkeeper, was contented to accept,[…].

   1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 68