prefer

Etymology

From Middle English preferren, from Anglo-Norman preferer and Old French preferer, from Latin praeferō, praeferre. Displaced native Middle English foresettan and foreberan.

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.
   You don’t attack politicians because you prefer them; you attack them because you’re scared of them. 2019-2-26, James Graham, Adam Johnson, “The Return of the Inexplicable Republican Best Friend”, in FAIR.org
2. (transitive, now dated) To advance, promote (someone or something).
   […] she was one of my Master’s Captives. 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. 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, page 67
3. (transitive) To present or submit (something) to an authority (now usually in "to prefer charges").
   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. 1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 5, p. 137
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. 1630, John Smith, chapter 1, in The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith, London: Thomas Slater, page 2