COMPARE, v.t.

1. The state of being compared; comparative estimate; comparison; possibility of entering into comparison, or being considered as equal. Their small gallies may not hold compare / With our tall ships. – Waller.
2. Simile; similitude; illustration by comparison. – Johnson. [This noun is in use, but can not be considered as elegant.]

1. To hold comparison; to be like or equal.
2. To vie. [Obs.] – Spenser.

1. To set or bring things together in fact or in contemplation, and to examine the relations they bear to each other, with a view to ascertain their agreement or disagreement; as, to compare two pieces of cloth, two tables, or coins; to compare reasons and arguments; to compare pleasure with pain. In comparing movable things, it is customary to bring them together, for examination. In comparing things immovable or remote, and abstract ideas, we bring them together in the mind, as far as we are able, and consider them in connection. Comparison therefore is really collation, or it includes it.
2. To liken; to represent as similar, for the purpose of illustration. Solon compared the people to the sea, and orators and counselors to the winds; for that the sea would be calm and quiet, if the winds did not trouble it. – Bacon. In this sense compare is followed by to.
3. To examine the relations of things to each other, with a view to discover their relative proportions, quantities or qualities; as, to compare two kingdoms, or two mountains, with each other; to compare the number ten with fifteen; to compare ice with crystal; to compare a clown with a dancing master or a dandy. In this sense compare is followed by with.
4. In grammar, to form an adjective in the degrees of comparison; as, blackish, black, blacker, blackest.
5. To get; to procure; to obtain; as in Latin. [Obs.] – Spenser.

1. To examine the character or qualities of, as of two or more persons or things, for the purpose of discovering their resemblances or differences; to bring into comparison; to regard with discriminating attention.
   
   

   Compare dead happiness with living woe.
   Shak.

   The place he found beyond expression bright,
   Compared with aught on earth.
   Milton.

   Compare our faces and be judge yourself.
   Shak.

   To compare great things with small.
   Milton.

2. To be like or equal; to admit, or be worthy of, comparison; as, his later work does not compare with his earlier.
   
   

   I should compare with him in excellence.
   Shak.

3. Comparison.
   
   
   [Archaic]

   His mighty champion, strong beyond compare.
   Milton.

   Their small galleys may not hold compare
   With our tall ships.
   Waller.

4. To get; to procure; to obtain; to acquire
   
   
   [Obs.]

   To fill his bags, and richesse to compare.
   Spenser.

5. To represent as similar, for the purpose of illustration; to liken.
   
   

   Solon compared the people unto the sea, and orators and counselors to the winds; for that the sea would be calm and quiet if the winds did not trouble it.
   Bacon.

6. To vie; to assume a likeness or equality.
   
   

   Shall pack horses . . . compare with Cæsars?
   Shak.

7. Illustration by comparison; simile.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   Rhymes full of protest, of oath, and big compare.
   Shak.

   Beyond compare. See Beyond comparison, under Comparison.

8. To inflect according to the degrees of comparison; to state positive, comparative, and superlative forms of; as, most adjectives of one syllable are compared by affixing "- er" and "-est" to the positive form; as, black, blacker, blackest; those of more than one syllable are usually compared by prefixing "more" and "most", or "less" and "least", to the positive; as, beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful.
   
   

   Syn. -- To Compare, Compare with, Compare to. Things are compared with each other in order to learn their relative value or excellence. Thus we compare Cicero with Demosthenes, for the sake of deciding which was the greater orator. One thing is compared to another because of a real or fanciful likeness or similarity which exists between them. Thus it has been common to compare the eloquence of Demosthenes to a thunderbolt, on account of its force, and the eloquence of Cicero to a conflagration, on account of its splendor. Burke compares the parks of London to the lungs of the human body.