Definitions for favour
ˈfeɪ vərfavour

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. favor, favournoun

   a feeling of favorable regard

2. favor, favournoun

   an inclination to approve

   "that style is in favor this season"

3. favor, favournoun

   an advantage to the benefit of someone or something

   "the outcome was in his favor"

4. party favor, party favour, favor, favournoun

   souvenir consisting of a small gift given to a guest at a party

5. favor, favourverb

   an act of gracious kindness

6. favor, favourverb

   treat gently or carefully

7. privilege, favor, favourverb

   bestow a privilege upon

8. prefer, favor, favourverb

   promote over another

   "he favors his second daughter"

9. favor, favourverb

   consider as the favorite

   "The local team was favored"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. favournoun

   A piece of help, usually to be repaid

2. favourverb

   To look upon fondly; to prefer.

3. favourverb

   To do a favour (noun sense 1) for; to show beneficence toward.

4. Etymology: favour, mainland favor, from favor

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Favournoun

   Etymology: favor, Latin; faveur, French.

   1. Countenance; kindness; kind regard; propitious aspect.

   It pleas’d your majesty to turn your looks
   Of favour from myself, and all our house. William Shakespeare, H. IV.

   The child Samuel was in favour both with the Lord and also with men. 1 Sa. ii. 26.

   The race is not to the swift, nor yet favour to men of skill. Eccl. ix. 11.

   His dreadful navy, and his lovely mind,
   Gave him the fear and favour of mankind. Edmund Waller.

   This favour, had it been employed on a more deserving subject, had been an effect of justice in your nature; but, as placed on me, is only charity. John Dryden, Aurengzebe, Preface.

   At play, among strangers, we are apt to find our hopes and wishes engaged on a sudden in favour of one side more than another. Jonathan Swift.

   2. Support; defence; vindication.

   The pleasures which these Scriptures ascribe to religion, are of a kind very different from those in favour of which they are here alleged. John Rogers, Sermon 15.

   3. Kindness granted.

   All favours and punishments passed by him, all offices and places of importance were distributed to his favourites. Philip Sidney.

   O, my royal master!
   The gods, in favour to you, made her cruel. Ambrose Philips.

   4. Lenity; mildness; mitigation of punishment.

   I could not discover the lenity and favour of this sentence; but conceived it rather to be rigorous than gentle. Gulliv. Trav.

   5. Leave; good will; pardon.

   Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
   —— Give me your favour; my dull brain was wrought
   With things forgot. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   Yet e’re we enter into open act,
   With favour, ’twere no loss if ’t might be inquir’d
   What the condition of these arms would be. Ben Jonson, Cat.

   They got not the land by their own sword; but thy right hand and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hast a favour unto them. Ps. xliv. 3.

   Come down, said Reynard, let us treat of peace:
   A peace, with all my soul, said Chanticleer;
   But, with your favour, I will treat it here. Dryden.

   6. Object of favour; person or thing favoured.

   All these his wond’rous works, but chiefly man,
   His chief delight and favour; him, for whom
   All these his works so wond’rous he ordain’d. John Milton, P. L.

   7. Something given by a lady to be worn.

   And every one his lovesuit will advance
   Unto his several mistress, which they’ll know
   By favours several which they did bestow. William Shakespeare.

   It is received that it helpeth to continue love, if one wear the hair of the party beloved; and perhaps a glove, or other like favour, may as well do it. Francis Bacon, Natural History.

   A blue ribband tied round the sword-arm, I conceive to be the remains of that custom of wearing a mistress’s favour on such occasions of old. Spectator, №. 436.

   8. Any thing worn openly as a token.

   Here, Fluellen, wear thou this favour for me, and stick it in thy cap: when Alanson and myself were down together, I pluck’d this glove from his helm. William Shakespeare, Henry V.

   9. Feature; countenance.

   That is only suitable in laying a foul complexion upon a filthy favour, setting forth both in sluttishness. Philip Sidney.

   Young though thou art, thine eye
   Hath staid upon some favour that it loves. William Shakespeare.

   Disseat thy favour with an usurped beard. William Shakespeare, Othello.

   There’s no goodness in thy face: if Antony
   Be free and healthful, why so tart a favour
   To trumpet such good tidings. William Shakespeare, Ant. and Cleopatra.

   Yet well I remember
   The favours of these men: were they not mine?
   Did they not sometime cry, all hail! to me? William Shakespeare, R. II.

   A youth of fine favour and shape. Francis Bacon, Henry VII.

   By their virtuous behaviour they compensate hardness of their favour, and by the pulchritude of their souls, make up what is wanting in the beauty of their bodies. South.

2. To FAVOURverb

   Etymology: faveo, Latin.

   1. To support; to regard with kindness; to be propitious to; to countenance.

   Of all the race of silver-winged flies
   Was none more favourable, nor more fair,
   Whilst heaven did favour his felicities,
   Than Clarion, the eldest son and heir
   Of Muscarol. Edmund Spenser.

   The self-same gods that arm’d the queen of Troy,
   May favour Tamora the queen of Goths. William Shakespeare, Tit. Andr.

   Men favour wonders. Francis Bacon, Natural History, №. 495.

   Fortune so favoured him, that the town at his first coming surrendered unto him. Richard Knolles, History of the Turks.

   The good Æneas am I call’d; a name,
   While fortune favour’d, not unknown to fame. Dryden.

   Oh happy youth! and favour’d of the skies,
   Distinguish’d care of guardian deities. Alexander Pope, Odyssey, b. iii.

   2. To assist with advantages or conveniences.

   No one place about it is weaker than another, to favour an enemy in his approaches. Joseph Addison, Whig Examiner.

   3. To resemble in feature.

   The porter owned that the gentleman favoured his master. Spectator.

   4. To conduce to; to contribute.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. favour

   A favor generally refers to an act of kindness or assistance that is done willingly and without any expectation of repayment. It can involve helping someone with a task, granting a request, or offering support in a particular situation. Favors are often done to show goodwill, help strengthen relationships, or simply to be helpful and considerate towards others.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Favour

   fā′vur, n. countenance: good-will: a kind deed: an act of grace or lenity: indulgence: partiality: advantage: a knot of ribbons worn at a wedding, or anything worn publicly as a pledge of a woman's favour: (arch.) countenance, appearance: a letter or written communication: (Shak.) an attraction or grace.—v.t. to regard with good-will: to be on the side of: to treat indulgently: to afford advantage to: (coll.) to resemble.—adj. Fā′vourable, friendly: propitious: conducive to: advantageous.—n. Fā′vourableness.—adv. Fā′vourably.—p.adj. Fā′voured, having a certain appearance, featured—as in ill-favoured, well-favoured.—ns. Fā′vouredness; Fā′vourer; Fā′vourite, a person or thing regarded with favour or preference: one unduly loved: a kind of curl of the hair, affected by ladies of the 18th century.—adj. esteemed, preferred.—n. Fā′vouritism, the practice of showing partiality.—adj. Fā′vourless, without favour: (Spens.) not favouring.—Favours to come, favours still expected; Curry favour (see Curry). [O. Fr.,—L. favor—favēre, to favour, befriend.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Favour

   Favour vs. Favor -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Favour and Favor.

2. Favour

   Favor vs. Favour -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Favor and Favour.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. FAVOUR

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Favour is ranked #152628 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Favour surname appeared 107 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Favour.
   
   88.7% or 95 total occurrences were White.

Matched Categories

1. • Advantage
   • Approval
   • Consider
   • Inclination
   • Promote
   • Souvenir
   • Spare

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'favour' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4347

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'favour' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1691

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'favour' in Nouns Frequency: #1464

4. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'favour' in Verbs Frequency: #574

How to pronounce favour?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say favour in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of favour in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of favour in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of favour in a Sentence

1. Andreas Utermann:

   The lack of economic growth and the return of volatility is prompting us to be more pro-active in buying and selling assets to capture the big moves in prices, we still favour the dividend theme in Europe. Stocks pay a hefty 3.5 percent yield on average, that's much higher than in the fixed income market.

2. Junichi Ishikawa:

   Our index based on sentiment currently shows that 62 percent of global retail clients favour going long on dollar/yen while 38 percent prefer going short, last week's dollar/yen plunge was such that it was natural for some to instinctively buy the dollar.

3. Goethe:

   Most men, even the most accomplished, are of limited faculties; every one sets a value on certain qualities in himself and others: these alone he is willing to favour, these alone will he have cultivated.

4. Jonathan Stubbs:

   Europe is seeing a pretty broad recovery on pretty firm foundations, but CEOs who have to answer to shareholders are still more likely to err in favour of capital distribution, especially with interest rates at these levels.

5. Park Sang-jun:

   Foreign beer has boosted its share of the household retail market rapidly and I expect the same trend will emerge as they find favour in bars and restaurants over time.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=favour
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Favour
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=favour
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=favour
6. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html