preferency

plural preferencies

1. countablerareuncountablePreference.

   To haue simply presented them to the GREEKES, he could haue done them no iniurie, what disparitie soeuer there might be: neither doth he weigh them also all together: in the great there is no preferencie.

   1602, S[imon] G[oulart], translated by Thomas North, “The Life of Plutarch”, in The Liues of Epaminondas, of Philip of Macedon, of Dionysius the Elder, and of Octauius Cæsar Augustus: Collected out of Good Authors. […], London: […] Richard Field, page 94; republished in Early English Books Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Text Creation Partnership, p. 2011

   5 more examples

   This is noted of Arrius, by Theodoret, that when Alexander was choſen Biſhop of Alexandria, he envied him the preferency, and from thence ſought occaſions of Contention, which after a little while the Devil brought to his hand, as we have heard.

   1677, Richard Gilpin, “Of Satan’s second way of improving his Advantages, which is by working upon the Understanding indirectly by the Affections. […]”, in Dæmonologia Sacra. Or, A Treatise of Satans Temptations: In Three Parts., London: […] J. D. for Richard Randel, and Peter Maplisden, […], part II, page 267

   [T]here are other members, which being moſt uſeful to the principal part, are exalted to a particular preferency, and a third ſort, inferior and leſs uſeful, which through their weakneſs &c. ſeem liable to contempt and neglect, and conſequently to grievances; […]

   1694, [William King], “Of their Form of Government”, in Animadversions on a Pretended Account of Danmark, London: […] Tho[mas] Bennet, […], page 57

   However art thou bound unto a Wife? Seek not to be loos’d on the account of what I ſay concerning the preferency of a ſingle life. And on the other hand, art thou loos’d from a Wife? Seek not a Wife.

   1714, Ed[ward] Wells, An Help for the More Easy and Clear Understanding of the Holy Scriptures: Being Sᵗ Paul’s Two Epistles to the Corinthians, Explain’d after the Following Method, […], Oxford: […] James Knapton […], page 47

   One explanation, which I call the seller’s preferency hypothesis, is that renters or sellers of housing have a unique aversion to dealing with Negroes not shared by the community at large and thus refuse to do so.

   1969, Richard F[erris] Muth, “[Other Determinants of Residential Land Use] Racial Segregation and Discrimination”, in Cities and Housing: The Spatial Pattern of Urban Residential Land Use (Studies in Business and Society), Chicago, Ill.; London: The University of Chicago Press, →LCCN, part I (Theoretical Analysis), page 106

   In Sir Kenneth’s view the desire to own shares personally goes along with the growing “middleclassness” of the nation. In other words, just as people demonstrate their class by their dress, their consumption preferencies and so on, owning shares personally becomes a statement about how people want to be perceived.

   1984 December 5, Hamish McRae, “Confidence in American markets is the key to the price of Telecom shares”, in The Guardian, London, page 24, columns 5–6