Verb

(en verb)

(nonstandard, or, dialectal) To prefer; to prefer to.

* 1984 , Bruce Brooks, The Moves Make the Man :

Until just before the pie was popped into the heat. A few of them suddenly realized who put that gorgeous hunk of crackers together, and gaped. We grinned back, but very cool. The ones who knew said nothing, rathering to die than let on they had been hustled by two negative dudes.

* 2002 , Sarah Waters, Fingersmith :

It was a plain brown dress, more or less the colour of my hair; and the walls of our kitchen being also brown, when I came downstairs again I could hardly be seen. I should have rathered a blue gown, or a violet one

* 2002 , Elizabeth Bowen, The Heat of the Day :

So you must excuse my saying anything I did: all it was, that up to the very last I had understood us all to be friendly — apart, that is, from his rathering me not there. How was I to know he would flash out so wicked?

* 2007 , Mikel Schaefer, Lost in Katrina , page 323:

"That was a killer," said Chris. "I'd rathered' die in St. Bernard than spent one minute over there. I would have ' rathered the storm, shaking with the wind and rain hitting in the boat for an eternity than spending any time there.

Verb

(head)

(compare)

Verb

(compar)

(label) To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things ["to compare X with Y"]. Having made the comparison of X with' Y, one might have found it similar '''to''' Y or different ' from Y.

* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)

, chapter=6, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=Sophia broke down here. Even at this moment she was subconsciously comparing her rendering of the part of the forlorn bride with Miss Marie Lohr's.}}

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katie L. Burke

, title= In the News , volume=101, issue=3, page=193, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.}}

(label) To declare two things to be similar in some respect ["to compare X to Y"].

* (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)

Solon compared the people unto the sea, and orators and counsellors to the winds; for that the sea would be calm and quiet if the winds did not trouble it.

To form the three degrees of comparison of (an adjective).

(label) To be similar (often used in the negative ).

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

Shall pack horsescompare with Caesar's?

(label) To get; to obtain.

* (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)

To fill his bags, and richesse to compare .