| 释义 |
favourable, favorable, a.|ˈfeɪvərəb(ə)l|
[ad. F. favorable, ad. L. favōrābilis, f. favor: see favour and -able.]
†1.
a. Winning favour; hence, pleasing, agreeable, beautiful, comely. Obs.
In some examples the word may owe its shade of meaning to favour n. 8 ‘beauty’, or 9 ‘appearance, countenance’; cf. personable.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. lv. (1495) 896 Hony is full fauourable and lykynge to the taste and to ete. c1430Lydg. Chorle & Byrde (Roxb.) 12 Hit maketh men..fauorable in euery mannes sight. a1529Skelton Anc. Acquaintance 8 Of all your feturs fauorable to make tru discripcion. 1590Spenser Muiopotmos 20 Of all the race..Was none more favourable, nor more fair, Than Clarion.
†b. Admissible, allowable. Obs.
1666Boyle Orig. Formes & Qual. (1667) 31 Bodies may be said, in a very favourable sense, to have those Qualities we call Sensible.
2. a. That regards with favour (a person, project, opinion, etc.); inclined to countenance or help; well-disposed, propitious. Const. to, upon, † of.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 1344 Til þam þe world es favorabel. c1374Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 15 Be favorable eek, thou Polymia. 1441Plumpton Corr. p. lix, Such as were favorable of their said malicious purpose. 1494Fabyan Chron. i. xvii, Y⊇ 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. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. v. 40 Happier the man whom fauorable stars A lots thee for his louely bedfellow. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxiii. 204 They would surely have made them more favorable to their power. 1667Milton P.L. v. 507 O favourable spirit..Well hast thou taught the way that might direct Our knowledge. 1749Berkeley Word to Wise Wks. III. 451 It is to be hoped this Address may find a favourable reception. 1827O. W. Roberts Centr. Amer. 37 The Indians..are particularly favourable to the English. 1871Freeman 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.
1502Arnolde Chron. 159 Unto the most holyest and fauorablist Prince in erthe. 1530Hen. VIII in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 106. II. 17 To have the favorable and lovyng assistance of the noble men. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 2 Vnlesse some dull and fauourable hand Will whisper Musicke to my wearie Spirit. 1642I. Basire in Evelyn's Mem. (1857) III. 3 To give you thanks for your favourable communication. a1822Shelley Homer's Hymn to Moon 25 Hail Queen, great Moon..Fair-haired and favourable [Gr. πρόϕρον.]
†c. Of a reader or hearer: Disposed to interpret generously. Obs.
1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xii. (1632) 696 Polydor Virgil must haue a warie and fauourable Reader. 1655–60Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 65/2 Herein Damachus had need of favourable hearers.
†3. Showing undue favour, partial. Const. to.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 389 One said that Omer made lies..And was to the Greekes favourable. 1393Gower Conf. III. 225 Thus was the steward favourable, That he the trouthe plein ne tolde. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xv, And to make hem also ffauorable and parcial.
4. a. Of an opinion, report, etc.: That is in favour of, approving, commendatory.
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. iv. §23 The favourablest expression of him falls from the pen of Roger Hoveden. 1712Steele Spect. No. 268 ⁋8 If you would be so far my Friend as to make a favourable Mention of me in one of your Papers. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 253 Giving a favourable account of the place. 1781Cowper Conversation 764 That great defect would cost him..Men's favourable judgment. 1833Lamb Elia (1860) 247 To institute..favourable comparisons. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. I. 335 Most favourable reports of the arm.
†b. Tending to palliate or extenuate. Obs.
1697Dryden Juvenal viii. 350 Since none can have the favourable Thought That to Obey a Tyrant's Will they Fought. 1772Junius Lett. lxviii. 336 Favourable circumstances, alleged before the judge, may justify a doubt whether the prisoner be guilty or not.
5. a. Of an answer, etc.: That concedes what is desired. Of appearances: Boding well, hopeful, promising.
1734M. Philips in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 73 [His answer] was as favourable as I could well wish for. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 61 The eunuch..soon returned with a favourable oracle. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xxi, I trust they have assumed a favourable aspect. 1875W. S. Hayword Love agst. World 77 How eagerly I hope for a favourable answer.
b. Of a patient's condition, progress, etc.: satisfactory; favouring recovery.
1903Westm. Gaz. 8 July 7/1 Seeing that his condition was so favourable. 1970J. L. Gibbons in Med. Ann. 278 Favourable prognostic signs were the presence of mild symptoms..and a stable premorbid personality.
6. Attended with advantage or convenience; facilitating one's purpose or wishes; advantageous, helpful, suitable. Said esp. of the weather, etc.
c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xii, Thai haue not so much ffredome in thair owne godis, nor be entreted by so ffauerable lawes as we be. 1548Hall Chron. 175 b, The Wynd [was] so favourable to the Erles purpose. 1555Eden Decades 245 The fauourable influence of the heauen and the planettes. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 38 This was the first battle of this age, which proved favourable to the Hollanders. 1659London Chanticleers xii. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 350 Or a favourable spider drop into the cream, and drown himself, that he may poison them. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1703) II. viii. 364 A place very favourable for the making Levies of Men. 1745Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 282 Incapacity and ignorance must be favourable to error and vice. 1774Pennant Tour Scot. in 1772, 325 Sail with a favourable breeze. 1850McCosh Div. Govt. ii. iii. (1874) 230 The cultivation of virtuous affections is favourable to the health. 1866Crump Banking vii. 153 The term ‘favourable’..state of the exchanges. 1877A. Brassey Voy. Sunbeam ix. (1878) 146 Make the passage under favourable circumstances. 1930Economist 20 Dec. 1158/2 The official returns indicate that the balance of ‘current items’, visible and invisible, is much less ‘favourable’ than before the war. |
