See Also: Class A-Class B shares(money)
class I(medicine)
third class(dictionary)
second-class(dictionary)
class(medicine)
second class(dictionary)
first-class(medicine)
CLASS(finance)
third class(dictionary)
Second Class(money)

first class (iou)



first class noun phr., adjective, & adverb. As adjective & adverb usu. first-class. L18.
[from FIRST adjective + CLASS noun.]
A. noun phr. The first (usu. the highest) of a series of classes into which people or things are grouped; a set of people or things grouped together as better than others; the best accommodation in a train, boat, aircraft, etc.; mail given preferential treatment; a compartment of a train etc. offering the best accommodation; (a person with) a place in the highest division of an examination list. L18.
b. adjective. Belonging to, achieving, travelling by, etc., the first class; of the best quality, very good; of the highest order. M19.
R. K. Narayan This threatened to develop into a first-class crisis. F. Forsyth Harcourt-Smith was of the university intake, with a first-class degree. Times The price of the first class stamp has remained at 17p since September 1984.
Comb.: first-classman a person with a first-class degree.
C. adverb. By first-class accommodation in a train, boat, aircraft, etc.; by first-class mail; colloq. excellently. L19.