▪ I. jewel, n.
(ˈdʒ(j)uːəl)
Forms: α. 3–6 iuel, -e, 4 iuwele, 4–5 -el(l, iuell(e, (ieueal), 5 iuall, iwell, (yewel), 5–6 pl. iuelx, 6 Sc. iwale. β. 4–5 iowel, 4–6 iowell(e, 5 -aile, (yowele), 6 ioell, Sc. iowalle. γ. 3 gywel, 4 gewel, 5 -elle; 4 iywel, iewile, 4–5 iewele, (5 iewle), 4–6 -elle, 5–7 -ell, 4–7 iewel, 7– jewel. δ. 4 ioyel, pl. ioiax, ioyaus, 5 pl. ioyaulx, 6 ioyelle, (ioywell).
[a. AF. juel, jeual, = OF. joel (nom. sing. and obj. pl. joeaus, joiaus), 12th c. in Hatz.-Darm., 13–14th c. jouel. 14– 15th c. joiel. joiau, mod.F. joyau: cf. Pr. joell, joyel, Cat. joyell, Sp. joyel, It. gioiello; all app. from Fr.
The etymology of the Fr. word is still a matter of dispute; some see in it a deriv. of L. gaudium (quasi *gaudiellum), whence F. joie, joy; others of L. jocāre, whence F. jouer to play, or of the cognate jocus, F. jeu play, through a deriv. jocāle. Cf. also juelet. The med. L. was (13th c.) jocāle, pl. jocālia. See Diez, Littré, Schéler, Hatz.-Darm., Koerting Lat. Rom. Wbch. s.v. jocālis.]
1. a. An article of value used for adornment, chiefly of the person; a costly ornament, esp. one made of gold, silver, or precious stones. Obs. in gen. sense; now restricted to a small ornament containing a precious stone or stones, worn for personal adornment (cf. sense 2): see also b.
| α c 1290 Beket 1110 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 138 Noble ȝiftes and oþur Iueles. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 154 Richard..gaf him a faire Iuelle, þe gode suerd Caliburne. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 151 Barouns and Burgeis heo bringeþ to serwe, Heo buggeþ with heore Iuweles. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 312 Of gold he leide Sommes grete And of jeueals a strong beyete. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 877 Well ryche and reall..Wyth many a juall. 1475 Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 32 For no sight of juelx and riches of cheynes of golde or nouches. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V 79 b, Garnished with precious stones and decked with Iuelx bothe radiant and pleasant. Ibid., Hen. VIII 209 Diverse precious Iuelles and greate horses. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 3 b, An hat set with golde, pearle, and precious Iwels. |
| β c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 152 A noþer iowelle fairer & worþi. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Nycholas 499 Of oure Iowelys als tak ȝe, & berys hyme. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxx. 135 Full of gold and of iowailes and precious stanes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 264/1 Iowel, or iuelle, Iocale. 1502 Will of Myrfyn (Somerset Ho.), My basyn of siluer there to remayne for euer as a Iowell to be occupied at the high awter. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 278 The Croce of Halyrudhouse, and vthir iowellis. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xxiii. 37 Thairfoir that hauld and worthie house of stone He gaif to the with Iowallis mony one. |
| γ 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 10460 Þe king offrede him a marc, & anoþer gywel þer to. c 1300 Beket (Percy Soc.) 1118 Noble ȝiftes and gewels. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. III. 50 Ȝyvyng of jewelis to bigge chirchis. c 1400 Destr. Troy 1368 Gemys ne gewellis, ne no ioly vessell. 14.. Lat.-Eng. Vocab. in Wr.-Wülcker 590/30 Iocale, a iewel. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 125 To haue fayre horsses and riche gownes, and other Iewles. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 194 Piers of Gavestone..had at the last the guydyng of all the kinges Iewelles and treasure. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 228 Heere, weare this Iewell for me, tis my picture. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 767 Attire of Beares skins, hanged with Beares pawes, the head of a Wolfe, and such like iewells. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. iii. §2 A Iewell (sometimes taken for a single precious stone) is properly a collective of many, orderly set together to their best advantage. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 37 note, King Alfred's jewel, found at Athelney in Somersetshire,..I call it a jewel, because it seems to have been used as jewels were after⁓wards, appendent to ribbands. |
| δ 1340 Ayenb. 118 He hise loueþ mid al his herte, and hire brengþ of his ioiax. Ibid. 216 Ich hatie þe toknen of prede and þe blisse of agrayþinges and of ioyaus. 1485 Caxton Paris & V. 15 He dyd doo sette these thre Ioyaulx or Iewels in the baners. 1502 Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 44 Wayting upon the Quenes joyelles. |
b. An ornament worn as the badge of an Order of honour, or as a mark of distinction or honour.
| 1672 [see George 3]. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 201/2 The jewel of the order [Teutonic Order] consists of a black and white cross, surmounted by a helmet with three feathers. 1894 S. L. Yeats Honour of Savelli ix, My cross of St. Lazare... I sat staring at the jewel and at the diamonds on it. |
2. a. A precious stone, a gem;
esp. one worn as an ornament. (The prevailing modern sense: in early use often difficult to separate from sense 1.)
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. i. 161 Ile giue thee fairies to attend on thee, And they shall fetch thee Iewels from the deepe. 1596 Spenser F. Q. iv. viii. 6 Amongst the rest a iewell rich he found That was a Ruby of right perfect hew. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. iv. 56 Thou art left Martius, A Carbuncle intire, as big as thou art, Weare not so rich a Iewell. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 214 A Ring of pure gold, with⁓out any Iewell in it. 1655 [see 1 γ.]. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., According to the common estimation of jewels..her whole dress must be worth above a hundred thousand pounds sterling. a 1861 Mrs. Browning King's Gift ii, That necklace of jewels from Turin. |
| fig. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii 267 A foyle, wherein thou art to set The precious Iewell of thy home returne. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 186 One of the proudest jewels in his continental coronet. |
b. Watchmaking. A precious stone, usually a ruby, used for a pivot-hole, on account of its hardness and resistance to wear.
| 1825 [see jewel-hole in 5]. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1213 The balance jewel always has an end-stone, or cap, the balance running on the end of its pivot in order that it may have the utmost freedom... Rubies are used as jewels in good watches..but cheaper stones, such as crystals, garnets, etc., and even glass of hard quality, are often used. |
c. Applied to an imitation, in glass or enamel, of a real gem; as those worn on women's dresses in the end of the 19th c.; also, an ornamental boss of glass in a stained-glass window.
| 1889 Harper's Mag. July 255/1 Mosaic glass has rapidly improved in the past century... The ‘jewels’ cut from pieces of a rich colored glass add effectively to the brilliancy of recent designs. 1891 Daily News 23 Mar. 2/2 Can such a display be anything but vulgar? Its sole redeeming point is that the ‘jewels’ do not even pretend to be real. 1897 Ibid. 14 Dec. 8/7 Some of the newest evening bodices have a shaped piece of guipure laid on the front, and often glittering with inexpensive ‘jewels’. |
3. fig. Applied to a thing or person of great worth, or highly prized; a ‘treasure’, ‘gem’.
jewels of the crown, a rhetorical phrase for the colonies of the British Empire (
temporary).
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 278 A Iuel to me þen watz þys geste, & Iuelez wern hyr gentyl sawez. 1340 Ayenb. 156 Þet is þe vifte ioyel and þe vifte stape. a 1450 Mankind (Brandl) 426 Ȝe xall not choppe my Iewellys [—my privyte (cf. 414)] and I may. 1529 Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.) 39, I wolde not commytt my best beloued ioywell and treasure [sheep] vnto the, vnlesse thowe loue me hartely. 1589 Nashe Almond for Parrat 9 b, Learning is a iewel my maisters, make much of it. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 213 Vnlesse Experience be a Iewell, that I haue purchased at an infinite rate. 1673 Dryden Amboyna iv. i, Oh, 'tis a jewel of a husband. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 620/2, I commend it as a Jewel, to sweeten their Milk and Pap withal. 1762 Foote Orators ii. Wks. 1799 I. 217 Oh, my jewel, I know him well enough. 1858 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 387 She is quite a jewel of a servant. 1872 R. Ellis Catullus xxxi. 1 O thou of islands jewel and of half⁓islands, Fair Sirmio. 1901 P. Manson in Daily Mail Year Bk. 101, 10 or 15 years hence that region [sc. West Africa] would be regarded as one of the richest jewels in the crown of England. 1931 N. & Q. 5 Sept. 166/2 Those irritations against tyranny and stupidity which lost us those jewels of the Crown [sc. the American colonies]. |
† 4. Naut. A heavy ring, sometimes weighted, used to press together the two parts of a cable or rope which is laid round an article and then rove through the ring. Also
attrib. Obs.| 1750 T. R. Blanckley Naval Expos. 82 Jewel, Made not unlike the Ring of an Anchor, and of Substance, that its Weight may carry it down, to purchase anything that is heavy under Water, when two parts of a Cable or Rope are put through it..and as they heave, the Jewel slides down, jams the Bite, so as that it may not slip off the Purchase the Rope is about. 1755 N. D. Falck Day's Diving Vessel 29 Then a jewel, well parcelled with about an hundredweight of stones together with a messenger of jewel-rope, was let over the hawser, and run down, in order to jam the sweep. |
5. Comb. a. appositive, as
jewel-bud,
jewel-fire,
jewel-stone.
b. attrib. Of or for jewels, as
jewel-box,
jewel-case,
jewel-casket,
jewel-coffer,
jewel-hunger,
jewel-merchant,
jewel-mine,
jewel-tint.
c. instrumental, similative, etc., as
jewel-coloured,
jewel-enshrined,
jewel-gleaming,
jewel-headed,
jewel-like,
jewel-loving,
jewel-proof,
jewel-studded adjs. d. Special
Combs.:
† jewel-darling a., as dear or highly prized as a jewel;
jewel-hole (
Watchmaking), a hole drilled in a jewel for a pivot;
jewel-office = jewel-house;
jewel-setter, an instrument for setting a jewel;
jewel-stand, a small stand for the toilet-table for placing jewels on or in;
jewel-weed U.S., either of two annual herbs,
Impatiens capensis, with orange flowers, or
I. pallida, with yellow flowers, native to eastern and central North America.
| 1831 Society I. 169 Her ladyship's *jewel-box, which was ostentatiously produced, was exhibited. |
| 1845 G. Murray Islaford 56 Every *jewel-bud shone like a star. |
| 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Beauty Wks. (Bohn) II. 439, I did not know you were a *jewel-case. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy 368 This jewel-case Mary had given Dick on his birthday. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 602 The first that euer was known to haue any such at Rome, was Scaurus,..vntill Pompeius the Great met with the *jewel-casket of K. Mithridates. |
| a 1835 Mrs. Hemans Poems, Child reading the Bible, Where *jewel-colour'd pebbles lay Beneath the shallow tide. |
| 1643 R. Williams Key Lang. Amer. 173 Man stakes his *Iewel-darling soule. |
| 1899 E. Peacock in Month May 541 The *jewel-enshrined miniature. |
| 1848 Ld. Tennyson in Mem. (1897) I. 275 *Jewel-fires in the waves from the oar, which Cornish people call ‘bryming’. |
| a 1868 A. I. Menken Infelicia (1883) 48 The poorest worm would be a *jewel-headed snake if she could. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 508 The *jewel-hole should be as shallow as possible, so as not to endanger cutting the pivot. |
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 248 Her heart held it, as so *jewel⁓like a treasure that it would scarce trust her owne lippes withall. 1608 Shakes. Per. v. i. 111 Her eyes as jewel-like, And cased as richly. |
| 1859 Lang Wand. India 70 A band of robbers attacked the *jewel-merchant. |
| 1698 A. Brand Emb. Muscovy to China 84* One of the Masters of the *Jewel-Office belonging to the Czar of Muscovy. 1739 C'tess of Hertford Corr. (1805) I. 51 On Saturday my lord Townshend gave up the jewel-office. |
| 1618 Fletcher Loyal Subject iii. ii, An honest mind I hope, 'tis petticoat proof, Chain proof, and *jewel-proof; I know 'tis gold proof. |
| 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. iii. 166 Beauty complete With gold and pearl and *jewel-stone. |
| 1818 A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 2) 283 Impatiens..nolitangere (*jewel-weed, touch-me-not). 1869 J. G. Fuller Uncle John's Flower-Gatherers 223, I have seen..the wild jewel-weed in our meadow. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Impatiens fulva, Spotted Jewel-weed. 1907 St. Nicholas July 842/2 A sudden thrust of the lantern into this clump of jewel weed near our path, produces a shower of miniature drops. 1951 R. Frost Coll. Poems 143 It will be found Either to have gone groping underground..Or flourished and come up as jewel-weed. 1968 Herb Grower Mag. (Falls Village, Connecticut) XXI. ii. 23 Jewelweed is our favorite [name] for the plant which makes its own gleaming droplets, poised to defy gravity even on leaves tipped downwards, out of rain, dew or even tap water that falls upon the foliage. |
▪ II. jewel, v. [f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To furnish or adorn with jewels.
| 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster iv. i, You are as well jewell'd as any of them: your ruff and linen about you is much more pure than theirs. 1853 Motley Corr. (1889) I. v. 151 Some few of the high Court ladies were well jewelled also. |
b. Watchmaking. To fit with jewels for the pivot-holes (
jewel n. 2 b). Usually in
pa. pple.| 1804 Nicholson's Jrnl. VII. 204 margin, Jewelling the holes of timekeepers is injurious. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xiii, A gold hunting watch,..jewelled in four holes. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 1266 An eight-day watch,..8 holes jewelled in rubies. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. vi. (1883) 112 If a watch tells us the hour and minute, we can be content..though it is not enamelled nor jewelled. |
2. fig. To bedeck as with jewels; to begem.
| 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 44 The cut flowers, too,..are here, jewelling wooden boards, and making humble wicker-baskets, iridescent. 1897 B. Harraden Hilda Strafford i. 18 That tender rosy tint..jewelled the mountains and the stones. |
▪ III. jewel dial. variant of
jowel, of a bridge.