# treasure

Pronunciation: US say "TREZH-ur" /ˈtɹɛʒɚ/; UK say "TREZH-uh" /ˈtɹɛʒə/

## Noun

1. An accumulated store of valuable things, such as money, gold, and jewels.
   - Simple: A large amount of money, gold, or jewels kept together.
   - _The museum displayed treasure recovered from a sunken galleon._
   - _Legends told of treasure hidden somewhere beneath the ruined castle._
3. Something regarded as extremely valuable or precious.
   - Simple: Something that is loved or valued very much.
   - _The painting became one of the gallery's greatest treasures._
   - _To him, that battered guitar was a treasure beyond price._
4. An affectionate name for a person who is dearly loved.
   - Simple: A loving name for someone you care about very much.
   - _There you are, treasure; I've been waiting all evening for you._
   - _She always called her youngest grandchild her little treasure._
6. A euphemistic, literary word for the female genitals, most often used in the plural. *(literary)*
   - Simple: A polite word, used in poems and stories, for a woman's private parts.
   - _The sonnet compared her treasure to a walled and secret garden._
   - _He sang of unlocking his beloved's treasures on their wedding night._

## Verb

2. To value something highly; to consider it precious.
   - Simple: To care about something very much and want to keep it.
   - _They treasure the freedom to speak their minds openly._
   - _He treasured the few photographs that survived the fire._
5. To put away or store something in a safe place.
   - Simple: To put something away carefully so that it stays safe.
   - _The monks treasured rare manuscripts in the abbey vault._
   - _Farmers treasure their seed stock in cool, dry cellars._

## Origin

Inherited from Middle English tresour, from Old French tresor ("treasury"), from Latin thēsaurus ("treasure"), which came from Ancient Greek thēsaurós ("treasure house"). It is a doublet of thesaurus and mostly displaced the native Old English words goldhord and ġestrēon.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/treasure (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).