treasures

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of treasure.

   Divers recovered gold coins and other treasures from the sunken ship.

   Family photographs are among her most precious treasures.

   Note

   The plural is where the noun's countable side shows. Treasure can be a mass noun for a hoard of wealth, but treasures are separate prized things: coins, heirlooms, keepsakes. The figurative sense, anything greatly valued, takes the plural just as freely. One caution: in literary writing the plural can be a euphemism for the female genitals, so context decides how a phrase like "her treasures" reads.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of treasure.

   My mother treasures the old photographs from her childhood.

   The town treasures its centuries-old founding charter.

   Note

   It has the same spelling as the plural noun, but here the word always needs an object: someone treasures something. It can mean valuing a thing highly, as with a cherished photograph, or storing something away safely, where the stress falls on keeping rather than feeling. An older meaning, "to enrich", is obsolete and belongs only to old texts.

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