prefer

verb

1. (transitive)To be in the habit of choosing something rather than something else; to favor; to like better.

   “I prefer tea to coffee.”

   “I'd prefer it if you didn't do it.”

   “I'd prefer to stay home rather than drive/driving in the blizzard.”

   “You that will be leſſe fearefull, then diſcreet, That loue the fundamentall part of State More then you doubt the change on’t: That preferre A Noble life, before a Long,[…]”

   “"My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects;[…]."”

2. (dated, transitive)To advance, promote (someone or something).

   “So ſhall you haue a ſhorter iourney to your deſires, by the meanes I ſhall then haue to preferre them. And the impediment moſt profitably remoued, without the which there were no expectation of our proſperitie.”

   “And the maiden pleaſed him, and ſhe obtained kindneſſe of him,[…], and hee preferred her and her maids, vnto the beſt place of the houſe of the women.”

   “Tiberius preferred many to honours in his time, because they were famous whoremasters and sturdy drinkers[…].”

   “For this Reaſon, I preſume, it was, that ſhe took ſo much Compaſſion upon me ; conſidering herſelf a Slave in a ſtrange Country, and on­ly preferr’d to my Maſter’s Bed by Courteſy.”

3. (transitive)To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges").

   “[…], let him go, And preſently preferre his ſuite to Cæſar.”

   “At length the Maroons, who were delighted to have him with them, became diſ­con­tent­ed with his abſence, and for ſeveral years, during the ſeſſions of the Houſe of Aſſembly, preferred repeated complaints againſt him.”

4. (obsolete, transitive)To put forward for acceptance; to introduce, recommend (to).

   “one Master David Hume, who making some use of his purse, gave him Letters to his friends in Scotland to preferre him to King Iames.”

   “Such were the arguments which my will boldly preferred to my conscience, as coin which ought to be current; and which conscience, like a grumbling shopkeeper, was contented to accept,[…].”