treasure

Pluraltreasures

Formstreasures, treasuring, treasured

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An accumulated store of valuable things, such as money, gold, and jewels.

   The museum displayed treasure recovered from a sunken galleon.

   Legends told of treasure hidden somewhere beneath the ruined castle.

   Similarriches, wealth, valuables, fortune, hoard

   Note

   The literal hoard comes first, and its history explains a surprising cousin. The word came through Middle English tresour and Old French tresor from Latin thēsaurus and Greek thēsaurós, "treasure house," so it is a doublet of thesaurus. It mostly displaced Old English goldhord. As a mass noun it needs no article: a pile of treasure, or the treasure Stevenson's pirates chase in Treasure Island.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To value something highly; to consider it precious.

   They treasure the freedom to speak their minds openly.

   He treasured the few photographs that survived the fire.

   Similarcherish, value, prize, esteem

3. 3
   nounfigurativelycountable

   Something regarded as extremely valuable or precious.

   The painting became one of the gallery's greatest treasures.

   To him, that battered guitar was a treasure beyond price.

   Similargem, jewel, prize

   Note

   Here the hoard shrinks to a single prized thing, and the grammar shifts with it. The word becomes countable, so something is a treasure and a gallery holds treasures. The figure is old. The King James Bible of 1611 has "peculiar treasure unto me," and in his King Lear of 1681 Nahum Tate calls an old text "a Heap of Jewels" and himself the finder of "a Treasure."

4. 4
   nounfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   An affectionate name for a person who is dearly loved.

   There you are, treasure; I've been waiting all evening for you.

   She always called her youngest grandchild her little treasure.

   Similardarling, dear, love, sweetheart, angel

   Note

   As a form of address the word drops its article and works like a name. Francis Rufus Bellamy's A Flash of Gold (1922) has "Hello, Treasure," capitalized as a name would be. In other positions it usually takes a possessive, as in my treasure or her little treasure, and it belongs to affectionate, private speech.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To put away or store something in a safe place.

   The monks treasured rare manuscripts in the abbey vault.

   Farmers treasure their seed stock in cool, dry cellars.

   Similarstore, keep, hoard, stash

   Note

   This sense is about where a thing is kept rather than how it is felt, which sets it apart from the "value highly" verb. It usually comes with a place phrase. In Walter Scott's The Talisman (1825), withered rose-buds are "still treasured under his cuirass, and nearest to his heart." Scott's line also shows how easily the two meanings merge, since what is stowed safely is usually cherished too.

6. 6
   nounliteraryeuphemisticfigurativelycountable or uncountableplural

   A euphemistic, literary word for the female genitals, most often used in the plural.

   The sonnet compared her treasure to a walled and secret garden.

   He sang of unlocking his beloved's treasures on their wedding night.

   Note

   A euphemism built on the sense of something greatly valued: the body is pictured as precious and guarded. It belongs to poetry and romantic writing and usually takes the plural, as in her treasures. The same word also names gold and jewels, so the context has to carry the meaning. Outside a literary setting the figure tends to sound coy rather than delicate.

Showing meanings only. Show all 6