first-rate

See also: first rate

English

Alternative forms

• first rate

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

first-rate (not comparable)

1. (UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having at least 100 guns across three gun decks, a complement of 850–875, and weighing approximately 2,500 tons burthen.
2. (idiomatic) Superb, exceptional; of the best sort; very high quality.
   • 1867, Matthew Arnold, On the Study of Celtic Literature:

     Our only first-rate body of contemporary poetry is the German.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2:

     He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.

   • 1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 92:

     "I once did something right. I played first-rate basketball. I really did. And after you're first-rate at something, no matter what, it kind of takes the kick out of being second-rate."

Derived terms

• first-rateness

Translations

superb, exceptional

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: файны (fajny), першакласны (pjeršaklasny)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 最佳 (zh) (zuìjiā), 第一流的 (zh) (dìyīliú de), 頂呱呱／顶呱呱 (zh) (dǐngguāguā), 頭等／头等 (zh) (tóuděng)

• Finnish: erinomainen (fi)
• French: de premier choix
• German: erstklassig (de)
• Japanese: 一流の (ja) (いちりゅうの, ichiryū no)
• Latin: prīmārius
• Macedonian: прво́класен (prvóklasen)
• Portuguese: de primeira classe
• Russian: первокла́ссный (ru) (pervoklássnyj), первосо́ртный (ru) (pervosórtnyj), перворазря́дный (ru) (pervorazrjádnyj)
• Spanish: de primera (es), excelente (es)

See also

• a-number-one
• fifth-rate
• fourth-rate
• second-rate
• sixth-rate
• third-rate
• top notch
• top of the line

 

Noun

first-rate (plural first-rates)

1. (UK, military, nautical, historical) A first-rate ship of the line.

See also

• man-of-war
• three-decker