sb. and a. Also 6 favorit, 7 faforeite, favoret. [a. OF. favorit (Cotgr.), var. of favori, pa. pple. of favorir to favour; = It., Sp., and Pg. favorito.]
A. sb.
1. A person or thing regarded with peculiar favour, one preferred above others. Const. of, with.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, I. (Arb.), 18.
| This Iuno fearing, and old broyls bluddye recounting, | |
| Vsd by her Greeke fauorits, that Troian cittye repressed. |
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 175.
| This new Favorite | |
| Of Heav’n, this Man of Clay. |
1769. Junius, Lett. viii. 38. There is another man, who is the favourite of his Country.
1781. T. Gilbert, Relief Poor, 9. Some of these Parish Officers are too apt to gratify themselves and their Favourites.
1796. Jane Austen, Pride & Prej. (1885), II. ix. 205. The children, two girls of six and eight years old, and two younger boys, were to be left under the particular care of their cousin Jane, who was the general favourite, and whose steady sense and sweetness of temper exactly adapted her for attending to them in every way—teaching them, playing with them, and loving them.
1802. Wordsw., To the Daisy, 80.
| Thou not in vain | |
| Art Nature’s favorite. |
1838. Lytton, Leila, II. i. The king smiled slightly at the ardour of the favourite of his army.
1839. Longf., Hyperion, II. vii. Of all operas this was Flemming’s favorite.
1876. Mozley, Univ. Serm., vii. 155. Some persons are … favourites of heaven.
b. spec. in Racing, etc. The competitor or competing animal generally favoured or ‘fancied,’ as being most likely to win.
1813. Examiner, 12 April, 240/1. By the 3d round, Carter became the favourite (as it is termed).
1857. G. Lawrence, Guy. Liv., iv. 26. All the favourites were out of the race early.
1860. O. W. Holmes, Elsie V., ii. 7. He was a student of mark—first favorite of his year, as they say of the Derby colts.
2. One who stands unduly high in the favour of a prince, etc.; one chosen as an intimate by a superior. Const. † to.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. i. 9.
| Like fauourites, | |
| Made proud by Princes. |
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., IV. i. 237. A Favourite is a Court-diall, whereon all look whilest the King shines on him.
1660. T. Ford, Theatre of Wits, 36. The Duke of Suilli was a Favourite to Henry the 4th.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 95.
| Committing to a wicked Favourite | |
| All publick cares. |
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. xvii. 443. He bestowed on his favourites the palaces which he had built.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iv. § 5. The favourite [Piers Gaveston] was a fine soldier.
3. A curl or lock of hair hanging loose upon the temple: worn in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. [Cf. F. favoris whiskers.]
1690. Songs Costume (Percy Soc.), 189.
| The settee, cupee, place aright, | |
| Frelange, Fontagne, favorite. |
1720. Gay, Espousals, 74, in Poems, II. 376.
| Sooner I would bedeck my brow with lace, | |
| And with immodest fav’rites shade my face. |
1753. Hogarth, Anal. Beauty vi. 35. A lock of hair falling thus cross the temples, and by that means breaking the regularity of the oval, has an effect too alluring to be strictly decent, as is very well known to the loose and lowest class of women: but being pair’d in so stiff a manner, as they formerly were, they lost the desired effect, and ill deserv’d the name of favourites.
† 4. = FAVOURER 1. Obs. [perh. apprehended as if f. FAVOUR sb. + -ITE.]
1585–7. T. Rogers, 39 Art., Pref. (1607), 12. They have prevailed but too much already with their too credulous favourites.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., 12. Blessed are the Peace-makers (I say:) and so are neither the breeders nor fauourites of discord.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., IV. i. 190. This factious bandying of their Fauourites.
B. adj. (Not regarded as an adj. by Johnson, who places quots. 1711 and 1725 under the sb.) Regarded with especial favour, liking, or preference; beloved, chosen, favoured above others. Favorite son: U.S. (see quot. 1888).
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 262, 31 Dec., ¶ 9. Every particular Master in this Art [criticism] has his favourite Passages in an Author which do not equally strike the best Judges.
1735. Pope, Odyss., I. 401.
| So Fathers speak (persuasive speech and mild) | |
| Their sage experience to the fav’rite child. |
1747. Gray (title), Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. xxxix.
| When Fortune fled her spoiled and favorite child, | |
| He stood unbowed beneath the ills upon him piled. |
1830. Fr. A. Kemble, Let., in Record of a Girlhood (1878), II. iii. 106. Portia is my favouritest of all Shakespeare’s women. She is so generous, affectionate, wise, so arch and full of fun, and such a true lady, that I think if I could but convey her to my audience as her creator has conveyed her to me, I could not fail to please them much.
1870. E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., I. 52. Their favourite anecdotes had all been told, and the various cock matches, horse races, and intrigues in which they had been engaged worn threadbare.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. III. lxx. 552. A Favourite Son is a politician respected or admired in his own State, but little regarded beyond it.
