PREFERRED • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Preferred

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/prəfˈərd/ /prɪfˈərd/ /prifˈərd/ Listen

verb

Prefer v. t. (past & past part. preferred; pres. part. preferring)

1.

To carry or bring (something) forward, or before one; hence, to bring for consideration, acceptance, judgment, etc.; to offer; to present; to proffer; to address; said especially of a request, prayer, petition, claim, charge, etc. "He spake, and to her hand preferred the bowl." "Presently prefer his suit to Caesar." "Three tongues prefer strange orisons on high."

2.

To go before, or be before, in estimation; to outrank; to surpass. (Obs.) "Though maidenhood prefer bigamy."

3.

To cause to go before; hence, to advance before others, as to an office or dignity; to raise; to exalt; to promote; as, to prefer an officer to the rank of general. "I would prefer him to a better place."

4.

To set above or before something else in estimation, favor, or liking; to regard or honor before another; to hold in greater favor; to choose rather; often followed by to, before, or above. "If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." "Preferred an infamous peace before a most just war."

Preferred stock, stock which takes a dividend before other capital stock; called also preference stock and preferential stock.

Synonyms: To choose; elect. See Choose.

See images of 'Preferred'

Etymology of 'Preferred'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Preferred" Quotes from Famous Books

... Anzin Company invited the workmen themselves to contribute to their own savings and pension fund at the rate of three per cent. of their wages, the expenses of management being borne, of course, by the company. The 'syndicate of workmen' and M. Basly did not like this. They preferred that any contributions to be made by the workmen from their wages should be made, not to a fund guaranteed and administered by the company, but to a fund to ...

— France and the Republic - A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces - During the 'Centennial' Year 1889 • William Henry Hurlbert

... Caramel, drank freely; Gloria and Muriel sipped a glass apiece; Rachael Jerryl took none. They sat out the waltzes but danced to everything else—all except Gloria, who seemed to tire after a while and preferred to sit smoking at the table, her eyes now lazy, now eager, according to whether she listened to Bloeckman or watched a pretty woman among the dancers. Several times Anthony wondered what Bloeckman was telling her. He was chewing a cigar back and forth in his ...

— The Beautiful and Damned • F. Scott Fitzgerald

... the circuit with the chief justice, both to hear causes, and inspect into the behaviour of the Alkadi, or chief magistrate of every village in their several districts[E]." Vasconcelas, an author mentioned in the collection, says, "The ancientest are preferred to be the Prince's counsellors, who keep always about his person; and the men of most judgment and experience are the judges." The Fulis are settled on both sides of the river Senegal: Their country, which is very fruitful and populous, extends near four hundred ...

— Some Historical Account of Guinea, Its Situation, Produce, and the General Disposition of Its Inhabitants • Anthony Benezet

... post-office money order on Boston, or a draft on a bank or banking house in Boston or New York City, payable to the order of COLBY & RICH, is preferable to bank notes. Our patrons can remit us the fractional part of a dollar in postage stamps—ones and twos preferred. ...

— Buchanan's Journal of Man, March 1887 - Volume 1, Number 2 • Various

... in person to his old college instructor, who had been elevated to the Patriarchal chair. His holiness gave him a cool reception, and reproached him for having preferred the service of sheikhs and princes to that of his bishop. Yet so valuable were his services, that he remained a while with the Patriarch, copying, illustrating, and arranging certain important documents ...

— History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches, Volume I. • Rufus Anderson

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