precious
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
precious/ˈpreʃəs/
▶adjective
- 1 having great value.
- 2 greatly loved or treasured by someone.
- 3 chieflyinformal, considerable: a precious lot you know!
- 4 derogatory affectedly concerned with elegant or refined language or manners.
– phrases
precious little (or few) informal extremely little (or few).
precious little (or few) informal extremely little (or few).
– derivatives
preciously adverb,
preciousness noun.
preciously adverb,
preciousness noun.
– origin ME: from OFr. precios, from L. pretiosus ‘of great value’, from pretium ‘price’.
'precious' also found in these Oxford entries:
Aladdin's cave
- alloy
- amethyst
- assay office
- augite
- base
- base metal
- bracteate
- carat
- carnelian
- cat's eye
- chlorite
- coral
- cuttlebone
- debase
- demonetize
- diamond
- emerald
- enshrine
- foil
- garnet
- gem
- gemmology
- gemstone
- gold
- gorgonian
- hardstone
- jet
- jewel
- jewellery
- marcasite
- moonstone
- nugget
- onyx
- opal
- pavé
- peridot
- pietra dura
- platinum
- precious metals
- precious stone
- priceless
- ring
- Rinpoche
- rock
- rough
- ruby
- sapphire
- sardius
