Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

First-rate

First′-rateˊ

(fẽrst′rātˊ)
,
Adj.
Of the highest excellence; preëminent in quality, size, or estimation.
Our only
first-rate
body of contemporary poetry is the German.
M. Arnold.
Hermocrates . . . a man of
first-rate
ability.
Jowett (Thucyd).

First′-rateˊ

,
Noun.
(Naut.)
A war vessel of the highest grade or the most powerful class.

Webster 1828 Edition

First-rate

FIRST'-RATE

,
Adj.
1.
Of the highest excellence; preeminent; as a first-rate scholar or painter.
2.
Being of the largest size; as a first-rate ship.

Definition 2024

first-rate

first-rate

See also: first rate

English

Noun

first-rate ‎(plural first-rates)

  1. (military, nautical, historical) A ship of the line in the British navy that had over 100 guns on three gun decks

Adjective

first-rate

  1. (military, nautical, historical) Describing a ship of the line in the British navy that had over 100 guns on three gundecks.
  2. (by extension) Exceptionally good.
    • Matthew Arnold
      Our only first-rate body of contemporary poetry is the German.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
      He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.

See also

Translations

Similar Results