jewel

¹ American  

[joo-uhl] / ˈdʒu əl /

noun

1. a cut and polished precious stone; gem.

2. a fashioned ornament for personal adornment, especially of a precious metal set with gems.

3. a precious possession.

4. a person or thing that is treasured, esteemed, or indispensable.

5. a durable bearing used in fine timepieces and other delicate instruments, made of natural or synthetic precious stone or other very hard material.

6. an ornamental boss of glass, sometimes cut with facets, in stained-glass work.

7. something resembling a jewel in appearance, ornamental effect, or the like, as a star.

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verb (used with object)

jeweled, jeweling, jewelled, jewelling

1. to set or adorn with jewels.

Jewel ² American  

[joo-uhl] / ˈdʒu əl /

noun

1. a female given name.

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jewel British  

/ ˈdʒuːəl /

noun

1. a precious or semiprecious stone; gem

2. a person or thing resembling a jewel in preciousness, brilliance, etc

3. a gemstone, often synthetically produced, used as a bearing in a watch

4. a piece of jewellery

5. an ornamental glass boss, sometimes faceted, used in stained glasswork

6. the most valuable, esteemed, or successful person or thing of a number

   who will be the jewel in the crown of English soccer?

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verb

1. (tr) to fit or decorate with a jewel or jewels

Other Word Forms

• jewel-like adjective
• jewelled adjective
• jewellike adjective
• unjeweled adjective
• unjewelled adjective

Etymology

Origin of jewel

1250–1300; Middle English jouel juel < Anglo-French jeul, Old French jouel, joel < Vulgar Latin *jocāle plaything, noun use of neuter of *jocālis (adj.) of play, equivalent to Latin joc ( us ) joke + -ālis -al ¹

Example Sentences

Some 20,000 people a day visit the basilica, a jewel of Renaissance architecture, and managing the numbers is a major challenge.

From Barron's

"It's only with these individual jewels of discovery that we start putting together a picture like this," De says.

From Science Daily

Museum bosses have come under increasing scrutiny in recent months, after thieves stole priceless French crown jewels from the museum in broad daylight and hundreds of books were damaged in a leak.

From BBC

Chris Hemsworth, taking a break from wielding Thor’s hammer, stars as a meticulous Los Angeles jewel thief with no past and no fixed identity; his real name, or one of them, is apparently James Davis.

From The Wall Street Journal

“And then Emerald would come up with a platter of jewels and start decorating me like a Christmas tree.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bauble
• bead
• bling
• gem
• gemstone
• ornament
• stone
• trinket