See Also: RATE(law)
All-in-rate(money)
pro-rate(dictionary)
rate(1)(dictionary)
rate(2)(dictionary)
Tax Rate(money)
rate(3)(dictionary)
first-rate(dictionary)
rate(4)(dictionary)
rate(dictionary)

first-rate (iou)



first-rate noun, adjective, & adverb. Also (usual form in sense A.1) first rate. M17.
[from FIRST adjective + RATE noun1.]
A. noun.
Hist. The highest of the rates or classes by which warships were distinguished according to the number of guns they carried. M17.
A warship of the first rate (Hist.); a person or thing of the highest class or rank (now rare). L17.
b. adjective.
Hist. Of a warship: of the first rate. L17.
Of the highest class or excellence; extremely good, excellent. colloq. M18.
M. E. G. Duff As long as France remained a first-rate power. M. Gordon Her misfortune was to be a merely first-rate painter in an age of geniuses.
C. adverb. Excellently, very well. colloq. M19.
B. W. Aldiss 'You're looking first-rate' 'And you, Sicily evidently agrees with you'.
first-rater noun a first-rate person or thing E19.