Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Favor

Fa′vor

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Favored
(fā′vẽrd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Favoring
.]
[Written also
favour
.]
[Cf. OF.
favorer
,
favorir
. See
Favor
,
Noun.
]
1.
To regard with kindness; to support; to aid, or to have the disposition to aid, or to wish success to; to be propitious to; to treat with consideration or tenderness; to show partiality or unfair bias towards.
O happy youth! and
favored
of the skies.
Pope.
He that
favoreth
Joab, . . . let him go after Joab.
2 Sam. xx. 11.
[The painter] has
favored
her squint admirably.
Swift.
2.
To afford advantages for success to; to facilitate;
as, a weak place
favored
the entrance of the enemy
.
3.
To resemble in features; to have the aspect or looks of;
as, the child
favors
his father
.
The porter owned that the gentleman
favored
his master.
Spectator.

Webster 1828 Edition

Favor

FA'VOR

,
Noun.
[L. favor, faveo.]
1.
Kind regard; kindness; countenance; propitious aspect; friendly disposition.
His dreadful navy, and his lovely mind,
Gave him the fear and favor of mankind.
The king's favor is as dew on the grass. Prov. 19.
God gave Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh. Acts 7.
Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain. Prov. 31.
2.
Support; defense; vindication; or disposition to aid, befriend, support, promote or justify. To be in favor of a measure, is to have a disposition or inclination to support it or carry it into effect. To be in favor or a party, is to be disposed or inclined to support it, to justify its proceedings, and to promote its interests.
3.
A kind act or office; kindness done or granted; benevolence shown by word or deed; any act of grace or good will, as distinguished from acts of justice or renumeration. To pardon the guilty is a favor; to punish them is an act of justice.
4.
Lenity; mildness or mitigation of punishment.
I could not discover the lenity and favor of this sentence.
5.
Leave; good will; a yielding or concession to another; pardon.
But, with your favor, I will treat it here.
6.
The object of kind regard; the person or thing favored.
All these his wondrous works, but chiefly man.
His chief delight and favor.
7.
A gift or present; something bestowed as an evidence of good will; a token of love; a knot of ribbons; something worn as a token of affection.
8.
A feature; countenance. [Not used.]
9.
Advantage; convenience afforded for success. The enemy approached under favor of the night.
10.
Partiality; bias. A challenge to the favor, in law, is the challenge of a juror on account of some supposed partiality, by reason of favor or malice, interest or connection.

FA'VOR

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To regard with kindness; to support; to aid or have the disposition to aid, or to wish success to; to be propitious to; to countenance; to befriend; to encourage. To favor the cause of a party, may be merely to wish success to it, or it may signify to give it aid, by counsel, or by active exertions. Sometimes men professedly favor one party and secretly favor another.
The lords favor thee not. 1Sam. 29.
Thou shalt arise, and have mercy on Zion; for the time to favor her, yea, the set time is come. Ps. 102.
O happy youth! and favored of the skies.
2.
To afford advantages for success; to facilitate. A weak place in the fort favored the entrance of the enemy; the darkness of the night favored his approach. A fair wind favors a voyage.
3.
To resemble in features. The child favors his father.
4.
To ease; to spare. A man in walking favors a lame leg.

Definition 2024

favor

favor

See also: favör and favør

English

Alternative forms

  • favour (Commonwealth, Ireland)

Noun

favor ‎(plural favors) (US, alternative in Canada)

  1. 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.‎
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
    • Shakespeare
      Wear thou this favour for me, and stick it in thy cap.
  4. Mildness or mitigation of punishment; lenity.
    • Jonathan Swift
      I could not discover the lenity and favour of this sentence.
  5. The object of regard; person or thing favoured.
    • Milton
      All these his wondrous works, but chiefly man, / His chief delight and favour.
  6. (obsolete) Appearance; look; countenance; face.
    • Shakespeare
      This boy is fair, of female favour.
  7. (law) Partiality; bias.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Bouvier to this entry?)
  8. (archaic) A letter, a written communication.
    Your favour of yesterday is received.
  9. (obsolete, in the plural) Lovelocks.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

Usage notes

  • 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 favour collocated with these words.

Derived terms

Antonyms

Translations

Verb

favor ‎(third-person singular simple present favors, present participle favoring, simple past and past participle favored) (US, alternative in Canada)

  1. (transitive) To look upon fondly; to prefer.
    • 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. —Luke 1:28, King James version, 1611
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To do a favor [noun sense 1] for; to show beneficence toward.
    Would you favor us with a poetry reading?‎
  3. (transitive) To treat with care.
    Favoring your sore leg will only injure the other one.‎
  4. (transitive, 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 0292743602), 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 […]

Derived terms

Antonyms

Translations

Catalan

Noun

favor m, f ‎(plural favors)

  1. favour

Derived terms

Latin

Etymology

From faveō ‎(“I am well disposed or inclined toward, favor, countentance, befriend”).

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈfa.wor/, [ˈfa.wɔr]

Noun

favor m ‎(genitive favōris); third declension

  1. good will, inclination, partiality, favor
  2. support

Inflection

Third declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative favor favōrēs
genitive favōris favōrum
dative favōrī favōribus
accusative favōrem favōrēs
ablative favōre favōribus
vocative favor favōrēs

Descendants

References

  • 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)
  • Félix Gaffiot (1934), “favor”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
  • Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, 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
  • favor in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin favor ‎(“favour; good will”), from faveō ‎(“I favour”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰoweh₁ ‎(“to notice”).

Pronunciation

  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /fɐˈvoɾ/
  • Hyphenation: fa‧vor

Noun

favor m (plural favores)

  1. favour (instance of voluntarily assisting someone)
  2. favour; goodwill (benevolent regard)

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin favor, favoris.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /faˈβor/
  • Hyphenation: fa‧vor

Noun

favor m ‎(plural favores)

  1. favor

Derived terms

Related terms

Venetian

Etymology

Compare Italian favore

Noun

favor m (plural favuri)

  1. favour

Etymology

From Middle English favour, favor, faver, from Anglo-Norman favour, from mainland Old French favor, from Latin favor ‎(“good will; kindness; partiality”), from favere ‎(“to be kind to”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰowe- ‎(“to honour, revere, worship”). Cognate with Old Norse gá ‎(“to heed, mark, pay attention”), Icelandic gá ‎(“to look, see, check”). Respelled in American English to more closely match its Latin etymon. Compare also Danish favør ‎(“favor”), Swedish favör ‎(“favor”), from the same Romance source.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfeɪvə(ɹ)/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈfeɪvɚ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪvə(ɹ)
  • Hyphenation: fa‧vor

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