a. [ad. F. favorable, ad. L. favōrābilis, f. favor: see FAVOUR and -ABLE.]
† 1. Winning favour; hence, pleasing, agreeable, beautiful, comely. Obs.
In some examples the word may owe its shade of meaning to FAVOUR sb. 8 ‘beauty,’ or 9 ‘appearance, countenance’; cf. personable.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lv. (1495), 896. Hony is full fauourable and lykynge to the taste and to ete.
c. 1430. Lydg., Chorle & Byrde (Roxb.), 12.
| It causeth loue it maketh men gracyous | |
| And fauorable in euery mannes syght. |
a. 1529. Skelton, Anc. Acquaintance, 8. Of all your feturs fauorable to make tru discripcion.
1590. Spenser, Muiopotmos, 17.
| Of all the race of silver-winged flies, | |
| Which doo possesse the empire of the aire, | |
| Betwixt the centred earth and azure skies, | |
| Was none more favourable, nor more faire, | |
| Whilst heaven did favour his felicities, | |
| Then Clarion. |
† b. Admissible, allowable. Obs.
1666. Boyle, Orig. Formes & Qual., 47. Bodies may be said, in a very favourable sense, to have those Qualities we call Sensible, though there were no Animals in the World.
2. That regards with favour (a person, project, opinion, etc.); inclined to countenance or help; well-disposed, propitious. Const. to, unto, † of.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1344. Til þam þe world es favorabel.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 15. Be favorable eek, thou Polymia.
1441. Plumpton Corr., p. lix. Such as were favorable of their said malicious purpose.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., I. xvii. Ye goddes were to hym so fauourable, that he slewe moche of the people of his brother and compellyd hym to fle.
1548–9. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Offices 34 b. Bee fauourable to thy people.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. v. 40.
| Happier the man whom fauorable stars | |
| A lots thee for his louely bedfellow. |
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxiii. 204. They would surely have made them [Books of the New Testament] more favourable to their power over Christian Princes, & Civil Soveraignty, than they are.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 507.
| O favourable spirit, propitious guest, | |
| Well hast thou taught the way that might direct | |
| Our knowledge. |
1749. Berkeley, A Word to the Wise, Wks. III. 451. It is to be hoped this Address may find a favourable reception, and that a zeal for disputed points will not hinder your concurring to propagate so plain and useful a doctrine, wherein we are all agreed.
1827. O. W. Roberts, Centr. Amer., 37. The Indians … are particularly favourable to the English.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xviii. 123. King Swegen was lending a favourable ear to their prayers.
† b. Gracious (said of a superior); kindly, obliging. Obs. exc. arch.
1502. Arnolde, Chron., 159. Unto the most holyest and fauorablist Prince in erthe.
1530. Hen. VIII., in Ellis, Orig. Lett. I. 106. II. 17. To have the favorable and lovyng assistance of the noble men.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. v. 2.
| Vnlesse some dull and fauourable hand | |
| Will whisper Musicke to my wearie Spirit. |
1642. I. Basire, in Evelyn’s Mem. (1857), III. 3. To give you thanks for your favourable communication.
a. 1822. Shelley, Homer’s Hymn to Moon, 25.
| Hail Queen, great Moon, white-armed Divinity, | |
| Fair-haired and favourable [Gr. πρόφρον.] |
† c. Of a reader or hearer: Disposed to interpret generously. Obs.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xii. (1632), 696. Polydor Virgil must haue a warie and fauourable Reader.
1655–60. T. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 65/2. Herein Damachus had need of favourable hearers.
† 3. Showing undue favour, partial. Const. to.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 389.
| One said that Omer made lies, | |
| Feyning in his poetries, | |
| And was to the Greekes favourable, | |
| Therefore held he it but fable. |
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 225.
| Thus was the steward favourable, | |
| That he the trouthe plein ne tolde. |
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., xv. And to make hem also ffauorable and parcial as were the same seruantes.
4. Of an opinion, report, etc.: That is in favour of, approving, commendatory.
1655. Fuller, The Church-History of Britain, III. iv. § 23. The favourablest expression of him falls from the pen of Roger Hoveden.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 268, 7 Jan., ¶ 8. If you would be so far my Friend as to make a favourable Mention of me in one of your Papers, I believe I should not fail in my addresses.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 253. He said, as he had perhaps at first raised this curiosity in me, by giving me a favourable account of the place, he would be very far from discouraging me now.
1781. Cowper, Conversation, 764.
| That great defect would cost him not alone | |
| Man’s favourable judgment, but his own. |
1833. Lamb, Elia (1860), 247. To institute … favourable comparisons.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 335/1. The result of these trials … has been to elicit most favourable reports of the arm.
† b. Tending to palliate or extenuate. Obs.
1697. Dryden, Juvenal, viii. 350.
| Since none can have the favourable Thought | |
| That to Obey a Tyrant’s Will they Fought. |
1772. Junius, Lett. lxviii. 336. Favourable circumstances, alleged before the judge, may justify a doubt whether the prisoner be guilty or not.
5. Of an answer, etc.: That concedes what is desired. Of appearances: Boding well, hopeful. promising.
1734. M. Philips, in Swift’s Lett. (1768), IV. 73. [His answer] was as favourable as I could well wish for.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. 61. The eunuch … soon returned with a favourable oracle.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxi. I trust they have assumed a favourable aspect.
1875. W. S. Hayward, Love agst. World, 77. How eagerly I hope for a favourable answer.
6. Attended with advantage or convenience; facilitating one’s purpose or wishes; advantageous, helpful, suitable. Said esp. of the weather, etc.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., xii. Thai haue not so much ffredome in thair owne godis, nor be entreted by so ffauerable lawes as we be.
1548. Hall, Chron., 175 b. The Wynd [was] so favorable to the Erles purpose.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 277. Such thynges as I sawe there, are not yet knowen to men of owre tyme: as the people, theyr customes and maners, the fertilite of the lande, the goodnes of the ayer, the fauourable influence of the heauen and the planettes, and especially the order of the starres of the eyght sphere in the inferioure hemispherie or lower halfe circle of heauen towarde and abowt the South pole, wherof neyther the owlde or newe wryters haue made any mention to this daye.
1656. B. Harris, trans. Parival’s The History of This Iron Age, 38. This was the first battle of this age, which proved favourable to the Hollanders.
1659. London Chanticleers, xii., in Hazl., Dodsley, XII. 350. Or a favourable spider drop into the cream, and drown himself, that he may poison them.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb. (1703), II. viii. 364. A place very favourable for the making Levies of Men.
1745. Butler, Serm., Wks. 1874, II. 282. Incapacity and ignorance must be favourable to error and vice.
1774. Pennant, Tour Scotl. in 1772, 325. Weigh anchor, and sail with a favorable breeze towards the mouth of the bay, with a design of returning South.
1850. M’Cosh, Div. Govt., II. iii. (1874), 230. The cultivation of virtuous affections is favourable to the health.
1866. Crump, Banking, vii. 153. The term ‘favourable’ or ‘unfavourable state of the exchanges.’
1877. Lady Brassey, Voy. Sunbeam, ix. (1878), 146. Make the passage under favourable circumstances.
