The Collaborative International Dictionary
favor \fa"vor\ (f[=a]"v[~e]r), n. [Written also favour.] [OF. favor, F. faveur, L. favor, fr. favere to be favorable, cf. Skr. bh[=a]vaya to further, foster, causative of bh[=u] to become, be. Cf. Be. In the phrase to curry favor, favor is prob. for favel a horse. See 2d Favel.]
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Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will.
Hath crawled into the favor of the king.
--Shak. -
The act of countenancing, or the condition of being countenanced, or regarded propitiously; support; promotion; befriending.
But found no favor in his lady's eyes.
--Dryden.And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
--Luke ii. 52. -
A kind act or office; kindness done or granted; benevolence shown by word or deed; an act of grace or good will, as distinct from justice or remuneration.
Beg one favor at thy gracious hand.
--Shak. -
Mildness or mitigation of punishment; lenity.
I could not discover the lenity and favor of this sentence.
--Swift. -
The object of regard; person or thing favored.
All these his wondrous works, but chiefly man, His chief delight and favor.
--Milton. -
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; as, a marriage favor is a bunch or knot of white ribbons or white flowers worn at a wedding.
Wear thou this favor for me, and stick it in thy cap.
--Shak. -
Appearance; look; countenance; face. [Obs.]
This boy is fair, of female favor.
--Shak. (Law) Partiality; bias.
--Bouvier.A letter or epistle; -- so called in civility or compliment; as, your favor of yesterday is received.
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pl. Love locks. [Obs.]
--Wright.Challenge to the favor or Challenge for favor (Law), the challenge of a juror on grounds not sufficient to constitute a principal challenge, but sufficient to give rise to a probable suspicion of favor or bias, such as acquaintance, business relation, etc. See Principal challenge, under Challenge.
In favor of, upon the side of; favorable to; for the advantage of.
In favor with, favored, countenanced, or encouraged by.
To curry favor [see the etymology of Favor, above], to seek to gain favor by flattery, caresses, kindness, or officious civilities.
With one's favor, or By one's favor, with leave; by kind permission.
But, with your favor, I will treat it here.
--Dryden.Syn: Kindness; countenance; patronage; support; lenity; grace; gift; present; benefit.
Wiktionary
alt. 1 for; in support of; approving, supporting. 2 For the benefit of; to the order of. 3 Out of preference for. prep. 1 for; in support of; approving, supporting. 2 For the benefit of; to the order of. 3 Out of preference for.
Usage examples of "in favor of".
She had hardly been thinking of the young ranger these last weeks, too engrossed was she in setting up her own kingdom and, of late, in rousing Agradeleous and plotting her moves in favor of Wadon.
Darkness crawled, writhed, twisted across the eyes and pierced the unwilling brain, driving back rational thought in favor of sensory chaos.
Whatever timetable you had before needs to be scrapped in favor of immediate action.
Sister Meriam sacrifice herself in favor of keeping her granddaughter alive.
But this time the odds seem to have changed dramatically in favor of her Arab neighbors.
So as far as anyone could tell, the vote was now six to three in favor of Moore.
Ivonne later that evening that Granger had been a wealthy tobacco farmer in Virginia, but his family had protested his will, which left everything to Evangeline, and the estate had been settled in favor of his brother.
Why had he abandoned his medical degree in favor of a pharmaceutical company?
She called such manic bursts the inherent bias in favor of action, and she had learned to resist it.
Tess put down the reddish one that reminded her of the planet Mars in favor of a mottled brown one, an egg from some ungainly bird.