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FIRST-RATE
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Of the highest quality
Example:
she is absolutely tops
Synonyms:
A-one; ace; crack; first-rate; super; tiptop; top-notch; topnotch; tops
Classified under:
Similar:
superior (of high or superior quality or performance)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
II. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Quite well
Example:
she doesn't feel first-rate today
Synonyms:
first-rate; very well
Classified under:
Context examples:
Mr. Weston seems an excellent creature—quite a first-rate favourite with me already, I assure you.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I cannot promise you a first-rate, but at least it shall be a 64-gun ship, and I can tell you that there is much to be done with a handy, well-manned, well-found 64-gun ship.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This additional ceremony seemed somewhat stately; however, I repaired to my room, and, with Mrs. Fairfax's aid, replaced my black stuff dress by one of black silk; the best and the only additional one I had, except one of light grey, which, in my Lowood notions of the toilette, I thought too fine to be worn, except on first-rate occasions.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
For, though shy, he did not seem reserved; it had rather the appearance of feelings glad to burst their usual restraints; and having talked of poetry, the richness of the present age, and gone through a brief comparison of opinion as to the first-rate poets, trying to ascertain whether Marmion or The Lady of the Lake were to be preferred, and how ranked the Giaour and The Bride of Abydos; and moreover, how the Giaour was to be pronounced, he showed himself so intimately acquainted with all the tenderest songs of the one poet, and all the impassioned descriptions of hopeless agony of the other; he repeated, with such tremulous feeling, the various lines which imaged a broken heart, or a mind destroyed by wretchedness, and looked so entirely as if he meant to be understood, that she ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry, and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and that the strong feelings which alone could estimate it truly were the very feelings which ought to taste it but sparingly.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Was it a new circumstance for a man of first-rate abilities to be captivated by very inferior powers?
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Living constantly with right-minded and well-informed people, her heart and understanding had received every advantage of discipline and culture; and Colonel Campbell's residence being in London, every lighter talent had been done full justice to, by the attendance of first-rate masters.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
