favor
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- favour (Commonwealth, Ireland)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English favour, favor, faver, from Anglo-Norman favour, from mainland Old French favor, from Latin favor (“good will; kindness; partiality”), from faveō (“to be kind to”). Respelled in American English to more closely match its Latin etymon. Compare also Danish favør (“favor”), Irish fabhar (“favor”), from the same Romance source.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
favor (countable and uncountable, plural favors) (American spelling, alternative in Canada)
- A kind or helpful deed; an instance of voluntarily assisting (someone).
- He did me a favor when he took the time to drive me home.
- Goodwill; benevolent regard.
- She enjoyed the queen's favor.
- to fall out of favor
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
- Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. […] She looked around expectantly, and recognizing Mrs. Cooke's maid […] Miss Thorn greeted her with a smile which greatly prepossessed us in her favor.
- A small gift; a party favor.
- At the holiday dinner, the hosts had set a favor by each place setting.
- A marriage favour is a bunch or knot of white ribbons or white flowers worn at a wedding.
- ca. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act IV, sc. 7:
- Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me and
- stick it in thy cap: when Alencon and myself were
- down together, I plucked this glove from his helm […]
- 1848, William Makepeace Thackery, Vanity Fair, Chapter 22:
- The rain drove into the bride and bridegroom's faces as they passed to the chariot. The postilions' favours draggled on their dripping jackets.
- Mildness or mitigation of punishment; lenity.
- 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], chapter 7, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], OCLC 995220039, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):
- I could not discover the lenity and favour of this sentence.
- The object of regard; person or thing favoured.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book 3”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- All these his wondrous works, but chiefly man, / His chief delight and favour.
- (obsolete) Appearance; look; countenance; face.
- c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene ii]:
- This boy is fair, of female favour.
- (law) Partiality; bias.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Bouvier to this entry?)
- (archaic) A letter, a written communication.
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 68:
- I will now take some notice of your last favour; but being so far behind-hand with you, must be brief.
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 68:
- (obsolete) Anything worn publicly as a pledge of a woman's favor.
- (obsolete, in the plural) Lovelocks.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)
Usage notesEdit
- Favor is the standard US spelling, and an alternative in Canada. Favour is the standard spelling in Canada and outside North America.
- English speakers usually "do someone a favor" (rather than *"make them a favor", which would be sense 3 only). See Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take for uses and meaning of favor collocated with these words.
AntonymsEdit
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
VerbEdit
favor (third-person singular simple present favors, present participle favoring, simple past and past participle favored) (US, alternative in Canada, transitive)
- To look upon fondly; to prefer.
- 1611, Luke 1:28, King James version
- And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess[1]:
- Even in an era when individuality in dress is a cult, his clothes were noticeable. He was wearing a hard hat of the low round kind favoured by hunting men, and with it a black duffle-coat lined with white.
- 2007, Bert Casper, Shadow Upon the Dream: Book 1: Barrûn, page 537:
- […] alone, without having to favor his right, uninjured leg, […]
- 1611, Luke 1:28, King James version
- To encourage, conduce to
- 1927, Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)[2]:
- These [boys being groomed as prostitutes] are sold by their parents (sometimes stolen from them), about the age of 4, and educated, while they are also subjected to a special physical training, which includes massage of the gluteal regions to favor development, dilatation of the anus, and epilation (which is not, however, practised by Chinese women).
- To do a favor [noun sense 1] for; to show beneficence toward.
- Would you favor us with a poetry reading?
- To treat with care.
- Favoring your sore leg will only injure the other one.
- (in dialects, including Southern US and Louisiana) To resemble, to look like (another person).
- 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:
- ‘Mandy?’ he said, and stared at the girl. ‘Don't favor her too much.’ ‘Favors her dad,’ Latha said, and looked at him.
- 2012, Rick Bass, A Thousand Deer: Four Generations of Hunting and the Hill Country, →ISBN, page 63:
- The way things repeat themselves, across time — not just in the replications and recombinations of family and place ("He favors his momma, she favors her daddy"), but in the accretion of like patterns […]
- 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:
SynonymsEdit
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin favor, attested from the 14th century.[1]
PronunciationEdit
Audio (Valencian) (file)
NounEdit
favor m or f (plural favors)
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ^ “favor” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
Further readingEdit
- “favor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “favor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “favor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
KabuverdianuEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Portuguese favor.
NounEdit
favor
LatinEdit
EtymologyEdit
From faveō (“I am well disposed or inclined toward, favor, countenance, befriend”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
favor m (genitive favōris); third declension
DeclensionEdit
Third-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | favor | favōrēs |
Genitive | favōris | favōrum |
Dative | favōrī | favōribus |
Accusative | favōrem | favōrēs |
Ablative | favōre | favōribus |
Vocative | favor | favōrēs |
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- favor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- favor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- favor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
- favor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
- Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to be favoured by Fortune; to bask in Fortune's smiles: fortunae favore or prospero flatu fortunae uti (vid. sect. VI. 8., note uti...)
- to find favour with some one; to get into their good graces: benevolentiam, favorem, voluntatem alicuius sibi conciliare or colligere (ex aliqua re)
- popular favour; popularity: aura favoris popularis (Liv. 22. 26)
- popular favour; popularity: populi favor, gratia popularis
- to be favoured by Fortune; to bask in Fortune's smiles: fortunae favore or prospero flatu fortunae uti (vid. sect. VI. 8., note uti...)
- favor in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
NornEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse faðir (“father”) + vár (“our”), from Proto-Germanic *fadēr + *unseraz, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr. Compare Shetlandic fy vor.
NounEdit
favor
OccitanEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
favor f (plural favors)
Derived termsEdit
- favorable
- favorir
- favorisar
- favorit
- favoritisme
- favorablament
- afavorir
- en favor de
- a favor de
- per favor
- faire una favor
- dar les favors
AntonymsEdit
PortugueseEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin favor (“favour; good will”), from faveō (“I favour”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰoweh₁ (“to notice”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
favor m (plural favores)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
AdverbEdit
favor (not comparable)
- (before a verb in the infinitive) please (seen on warnings and the like)
- Favor não pisar na grama.
- Please don't step on the grass.
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin favor (genitive singular favōris).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
favor m (plural favores)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
VenetianEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
favor m (plural favuri)