family jewels
Americanplural noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“This is like selling the family jewels — like giving them away, really,” said John McCourt, the president of the International James Joyce Foundation, who led the campaign to preserve the house.
From New York Times • May 11, 2021
A holster that leaves the gun pointing directly at the family jewels, what could possibly go wrong?
From The Guardian • Apr. 14, 2016
Most people aren’t touring the house in hopes of walking off with your family jewels, but I certainly wouldn’t want to leave any enticements.
From Forbes • Dec. 13, 2014
If this had been presented in a respectful, low-key way among the four of you, you surely still would have objected, but you would not have felt they were trying to snatch the family jewels.
From Slate • Oct. 17, 2011
L.V. carefully kept the letters for him in a large envelope, as if they were the family jewels.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
