Lewis & Short

Parsing inflected forms may not always work as expected. If the following does not give the correct word, try Latin Words or Perseus.

mālo, mālui, malle (old forms, mavolo for malo, Plaut. As. 5, 1, 18; id. Curc. 2, 3, 41; id. Poen. 1, 2, 88; 90; id. Rud. 5, 3, 57; Ter. Hec. 4, 1, 25: mavolunt for malunt, Naev. ap. Fest. s. v. stuprum, p. 317 Müll.: mavoluit for maluit, Petr. S. p. 77: mavelim for malim, Plaut. As. 5, 2, 27; id. Aul. 4, 5, 1; id. Capt. 3, 3, 1; id. Bacch. 4, 8, 18; id. Men. 5, 1, 20; id. Mil. 4, 8, 46; id. Merc. 4, 3, 21; 5, 4, 48; id. Poen. 1, 1, 23; 4, 2, 5; 5, 2, 31; id. Pers. 1, 1, 4; id. Rud. 2, 7, 12; id. Truc. 2, 2, 22; 2, 4, 68; 4, 2, 29; 30; 33: mavelis for malis, id. Capt. 2, 2, 20; id. Ps. 1, 2, 8: mavelit for malit, id. Trin. 2, 2, 25: mavellem for mallem, id. Am. 1, 3, 14; id. Curc. 4, 2, 26; id. Bacch. 2, 2, 21; 3, 3, 48; 4, 9, 125; id. Mil. 2, 2, 16; id. Ps. 1, 1, 128; 4, 5, 6; id. Poen. 3, 3, 37: mavolet for malet, id. As. 1, 1, 108), v. a. [magis-volo], to choose rather, to prefer.

  1. I. In gen., constr. with acc. of the person or thing, with an object-clause, or with subj. (class.).
          1. (α) With acc. of the person or thing (rare): bonos et senatum malet, Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8, 4, 2: ambigua, ancipitia malebat, Tac. H. 2, 86: quin omnia malit, Hor. S. 2, 4, 61: quod mallem, which I would prefer, Ov. Tr. 2, 239; id. H. 21, 35: malo, Malo Venusinam quam te, Juv. 6, 167: ridenda poëmata malo, quam te, id. 10, 124; 14, 153.
            In late Lat. also with acc. and dat.: ut me aliis omnibus mallet, App. Mag. 73, p. 321, 10.
          2. (β) With object-clause (usu. class. constr.): seseque ii perire mavolunt ibidem, quam, etc., Naev. ap. Fest. p. 317 Müll.; Enn. ap. Varr. L. L. 6, § 81 Müll.; Cic. Off. 1, 19, 65: Cato jam servire quam pugnare mavult, id. Att. 7, 15, 2: maluit illum esse deum, Hor. S. 1, 8, 3; Cic. Att. 13, 22, 3; id. Div. 2, 57, 118: judicium prius de probro quam de re maluit fieri, id. Quint. 2, 9: praetextam sumere mavis, an esse, etc., Juv. 10, 99.
          3. (γ) With nom. and inf.: esse quam videri bonus malebat, Sall. C. 54, 5: unde fit ut malim fraterculus esse gigantis, Juv. 4, 98.
          4. (δ) With subj. (mostly poet.): mallemcognoscerem, Cic. Fam. 7, 14: mallem divitias mihi dedisses, Quam, etc., Cat. 24, 4: fabula sit mavult, quam sine amore deus, Tib. 2, 3, 32: malo pater tibi sit Thersites, Juv. 8, 269.
            Sometimes with comp. abl. instead of quam (poet. and in post-Aug. prose): nullos his mallem ludos spectasse, rather than these, Hor. S. 2, 8, 79: ne dubitaret armis incruentas conditiones malle, to choose rather than arms, prefer to arms, Tac. A. 12, 46.
            Sometimes followed pleonastically by potius: se ab omnibus desertos potius quam abs to defensos esse malunt, Cic. Div. in Caecil. 6, 21: an ille Uticae potius, quam Romae, cum alienis esse quam cum suis maluisset? id. Lig. 2, 5; id. Cat. ap. Fam. 15, 5, 2; Anton. ap. Cic. Att. 14, 13, A, 3.
            Also by quam: qui magis vere vincere, quam diu imperare malit, Liv. 22, 34 fin.
            Strengthened by multo or haud paulo: meo judicio multo stare malo, quam aliorum, much rather, Cic. Att. 12, 21, 5: haud paulo hunc animum malim quam, etc., id. Tusc. 1, 42, 99.
  2. II. In partic., to be more favorable to one: in hac re malo universae Asiae et negotiatoribus, Cic. Att. 2, 16, 4: quamquam illi omnia malo, quam mihi, i. e. would rather he had them, id. Planc. 24, 59.
    Hence, mālens, entis, P. a., preferring (late Lat.), Hier. in Matt. 2, ad 14, 4; Aug. c. Jul. 4, 14, 68.