Crossword clues for precious
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Precious \Pre"cious\, a. [OF. precious, precius, precios, F. pr['e]cieux, L. pretiosus, fr. pretium price, worth, value. See Price.]
Of great price; costly; as, a precious stone. ``The precious bane.''
--Milton.-
Of great value or worth; very valuable; highly esteemed; dear; beloved; as, precious recollections.
She is more precious than rules.
--Prov. iii. 15.Many things which are most precious are neglected only because the value of them lieth hid.
--Hooker.Note: Also used ironically; as, a precious rascal.
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Particular; fastidious; overnice; overrefined. Cf. Pr['e]cieuse, Preciosity.
Lest that precious folk be with me wroth.
--Chaucer.Elaborate embroidery of precious language.
--Saintsbury.Precious metals, the uncommon and highly valuable metals, esp. gold and silver.
Precious stones, gems; jewels.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-13c., from Old French precios "precious, costly, honorable, of great worth" (11c., Modern French précieux), from Latin pretiosus "costly, valuable," from pretium "value, worth, price" (see price (n.)). Meaning "over-refined" in English first recorded late 14c. In Johnson's day, it also had a secondary inverted sense of "worthless." Related: Preciously; preciousness.
"beloved or dear person or object," 1706, from precious (adj.).
Wiktionary
a. Of high value or worth, or seemingly regarded as such. adv. very; (non-gloss definition: an intensifier.) n. Someone (or something) who is loved; a darling.
WordNet
adv. extremely; "there is precious little time left" [syn: preciously]
adj. characterized by feeling or showing fond affection for; "a cherished friend"; "children are precious"; "a treasured heirloom"; "so good to feel wanted" [syn: cherished, treasured, wanted]
of high worth or cost; "diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds are precious stones"
obviously contrived to charm; "an insufferably precious performance"; "a child with intolerably cute mannerisms" [syn: cute]
Wikipedia
Precious were a British girl group, comprising Louise Rose, Anya Lahiri, Sophie McDonnell, Kalli Clark-Sternberg and Jenny Frost. They first achieved fame as the UK's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest and went on to become a moderately popular act until the group disbanded in 2000.
"Precious" is Depeche Mode's forty-first single, and the first single from the album Playing the Angel. It was released on 3 October 2005 in the UK by Mute Records and 11 October 2005 in the US by Sire/ Reprise. The single reached No. 4 in the UK, No. 71 on the Hot 100, and No. 23 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.
It was the band's first single of original music in more than three years. "Precious" was released to international radio stations and as a digital download on 22 August 2005. Since its live debut, "Precious" has been played at every Depeche Mode concert between 2005 and 2014.
Precious may refer to the following:
"Precious" is the third single by Yuna Ito. It is the theme song to the movie Limit of Love: Umizaru (starring Hideaki Ito and Ai Kato) and was released on May 3, 2006. Both "I'm Free" and "Secrets" are more up-beat songs than "Precious".
"Precious" reached a peak of #2 on the daily charts and #3 on the weekly charts. The following week, her single stayed high on the charts and was #3 for the second week in a row. Her sales jumped from 39,000 copies the first week to 44,000 copies the second week. In two weeks, it has already surpassed the sales of her last single, " Faith/Pureyes".
This single has been billed as a double b-side single due to the fact it has 2 b-sides.
On the half-yearly charts of 2006, "Precious" was the 2nd most-downloaded song, 3rd most-downloaded ringtone, 5th most-downloaded PV, and overall (combined ranking for all 3 categories) ranked 2nd.
The PV (promotional video) for the title track "Precious" was shot in New Zealand, where Ito and her staff stayed for 5 days.
Despite the song being released for more than two years, it managed to climb back up the charts, with a peak of 17.
Precious is the second album by the rock group Ours and it was released November 5, 2002. When recording this album, Jimmy Gnecco wanted to get it done quickly, and didn't aim for the polished production achieved on their previous record.
Precious is the debut English album by Cubic U (Hikaru Utada's stage name before her debut in Japan), which was recorded at Sony Music Studio in New York in 1996. The album was released in both the United States and Japan on January 28, 1998; the album failed to chart on the Oricon weekly charts and US Billboard 200. After the huge success of Utada's First Love, the album was re-released in Japan on March 31, 1999 and peaked at #2 on the Oricon charts with 702,060 copies sold.
"Precious" is a song by Annie Lennox. It was released as the second single from her debut solo album, Diva, in 1992 and peaked at number 23 in the UK. The B-side, Step by Step, was later covered by Whitney Houston for the soundtrack of her 1996 film, The Preacher's Wife, and became a top 10 hit.
Precious is the self-titled debut by UK girl group Precious. It spawned four singles: "Say It Again", Rewind, "It's Gonna Be My Way", and "New Beginning". It was released on 20 November 2000.
Patricia "Patti" Williams (born January 1, 1955) is a retired professional wrestling valet better known as Precious. She is the wife of the man she managed for much of her career, Jimmy Garvin.
are fictional artifacts that are the focus for each Task (episode) of the Japanese tokusatsu series GoGo Sentai Boukenger. Within the fiction of the show, each of these artifacts is defined as a "Precious" if it is physically or technologically superior to any current human technology. The protagonists of the series, the Search Guard Successor Foundation, are tasked to retrieve these items before any of the various antagonists, the Negative Syndicate, can use the Precious' powers for evil. Each Precious is marked with a different "Hazard Level" as defined by the S.G.S. Foundation's Accellular devices; a higher number denotes that the item is more dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. After acquiring a Precious, it is kept in a containment device for further research.
Towards the end of GoGo Sentai Boukenger, all of the Precious that had been collected are destroyed in an attack on the S.G.S. Foundation headquarters. It is also revealed that the Precious are created from the power of the hopes and dreams of the human race.
Precious is the debut studio album by American singer Chanté Moore, released by MCA Records on September 29, 1992 in the United States. The album featured production from Simon Law, Bebe Winans, George Duke, among others. Precious spawned four singles; including the Top 40 R&B hits Love's Taken Over and It's Alright, Who Do I Turn To and As If We Never Met. On the episode of A Different World, Precious was the cover of the album was seen on Dorian's dorm room ( Bumper Robinson) on the wallpaper which was her former husband actor Kadeem Hardison who played Dwayne Wayne on the 1993 lost episode, "Homey, Don't Ya Know Me".
The album peaked at number one hundred and one on the Billboard 200 chart on March 20, 1993. Precious was certified gold by the RIAA on November 14, 1994.
"Precious" was a song composed by Paul Weller and performed by the British band The Jam.
It appears on The Jam's 1982 album The Gift and also as a double A-Side single along with " Town Called Malice". It reached number one in the British music charts, but received much less airplay than "Malice". It was a departure for the band from their punk and Mod roots, involving a funk like sound that the band had not previously explored. Some fans and critics have noticed the song contains similar resemblances to " Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag", which was a relatively new release itself at the time.
Category:1982 songs Category:The Jam songs Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Precious: Base on Nol by Saf (Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire), commonly referred to as simply Precious, is a 2009 American drama film, directed and co-produced by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey. This film marked the acting debut of Sidibe.
The film, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, under its original title of Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire. At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, as well as a Special Jury Prize for supporting actress Mo'Nique. After Precious' screening at Sundance in February 2009, Tyler Perry announced that he and Oprah Winfrey would be providing promotional assistance to the film, which was released through Lionsgate Entertainment. Precious won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The film's title was changed from Push to Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, to avoid confusion with the 2009 action film Push. Precious was also an official selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival (particularly the un certain regard section).
Lionsgate gave the film a limited release in North America on November 6, 2009 (the release was expanded on November 20). Precious received largely positive reviews from critics; the acting, the story, and its message were generally praised. In the film's opening weekend in limited release, it grossed $1.8 million, putting it in 12th place at the box office. As of February 2010, the film had grossed over $47 million domestically, ranking no. 65 for 2009, recouping its $10 million budget, and making it a box office success.
Precious received six nominations, including one for Best Picture, at the 82nd Academy Awards. Geoffrey Fletcher won for Best Adapted Screenplay. Mo'Nique won the award for Best Supporting Actress, for which she received a standing ovation at the ceremony, along with numerous other accolades.
Precious: Soundtrack, was released, first as a digital download, prior to the release of the film of the same name on November 3, 2009. Nearly three weeks later, it was released to stores on November 23. The soundtrack consists of various artists ( Labelle, Donna Allen, Jean Carn, Sunny Gale, and MFSB); with some artists having recorded songs that were covers and other songs that were recorded specifically for the album. The album received positive praise; mainly the song "I Can See In Color" - which was released as a single - that was recorded and co-written by Blige. The trailer features the song "Destiny" taken from Blige's 2001 album No More Drama. A song titled "My Good Lovin' ( Back Like That Remix)", featuring Da Brat and Lil' Mo, was featured in the film but exempted from the soundtrack.
Precious is a predominantly feminine given name derived from the English word meaning "of great worth." It is also in occasional use for males.
It first appeared in the top 1,000 most popular names for girls in the United States in 1978, when it ranked at 989. It was ranked in the top 500 names given to newborn American girls between 1987 and 2002. It has since fallen in popularity and was last ranked in the top 1,000 names for girls in 2010. In 2011, there were 195 newborn American girls given the name; in 2012 there were 154 American girls given the name. In the United States, the name has been used predominantly by African Americans. According to one study, of 454 girls named Precious in California during the 1990s, 431 of them were African American.
It remained a popular name in the Philippines, where it was the ninth most popular name given to newborn girls in 2011. There were 394 newborn Filipino girls named Precious in 2011.
"Precious" is a song written by Chrissie Hynde that was first released on the Pretenders' 1980 debut album Pretenders. It was the opening track of the album. It was also released as a single in some countries. A medley of "Precious" with " Brass in Pocket" and "Mystery Achievement" reached #28 on the Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart.
Allmusic critic Stewart Mason described "Precious" as Hynde's "true calling card." He also describes it as "a poison-pen valentine to Hynde's home city of Akron, Ohio." Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised James Honeyman-Scott's "phased, treated guitar" playing for how it supplements the "pounding rhythm." Music critic Simon Reynolds described the lyrics as a "strafing stream of syllables" mixing "speed rap, jive talk, baby babble," and the song as "punk scat, all hiccoughs, vocal tics, gasps and feral growls, weirdly poised between love and hate, oral sensuality and staccato, stabbing aggression."
Mason notes that the music of "Precious" maintains some restraint, but still sounds more threatening than other songs which sound angrier. The climax of "Precious" comes when Hynde sings the line "But not me, baby, I'm too precious/Fuck off!" SPIN critic Charles Aaron noted that Hynde's singing this line "over whipsaw guitars" made it clear that Hynde "was more than a bewitching pout." Rolling Stone Magazine critic noted that he gets "startled and shivery when Hynde rejects a would-be lothario" with this line. According to Mason, the restraint until that point makes this climax "more explosive." According to Rolling Stone critic Bud Scoppa, the line was actually supposed to be "But not me, baby, I'm too precious/I had to fuck off" but Hynde swallowed the words "I had to." Scoppa also notes the "fearlessness" with which Hynde sings this line. Ariel Swartley wrote in Mother Jones about the cathartic effect of this line for women in dance clubs:
Dozens of women, otherwise amicably engaged with partners, would stop short and mouth along with Hynde's switchblade-sharp delivery of her famous "Fuck off" line. (Predictably, there were men on the same dance floor bemoaning Hynde's "macho" stance, so different from the women they knew. Hmmm.)
Author Mike Segretto described "Precious" as being "particularly ferocious." Author Tom Moon called it an "enduring gem."
A live version of "Precious" was included on the 1981 EP Extended Play. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau considered the live version even better than the original. Mason also praised the live version. A demo version from 1978 was included on the 2006 album Pirate Radio. Erlewine stated that this demo version was "nearly as tough" as the officially released version. "Precious" was later included on the 2009 compilation album The Best of Pretenders.
Mr. Stress, referenced in the line "Now Howard the Duck and Mr. Stress both stayed", is the stage name of the Cleveland blues musician Bill Miller. Hynde briefly became a member of the Mr. Stress Blues Band, but Miller felt that Hynde's interest in original rock music didn't fit in with what Miller wanted to do, which was traditional blues. In an interview, Miller claimed that he told Hynde she would "probably have to go to Europe to get anyone to listen to you."
Usage examples of "precious".
The philosopher, perchance, may be accounted so, but it is at the cost of too precious sacrifices at the phantom shrine of Liberty.
On the 25th of the Eleventh Month, we were introduced into deep affliction by the sudden removal of our precious elder, E.
The arms, horses, and camels, with an immense treasure of gold, silver, silk, and precious stones, were all delivered to the conqueror, who, leaving only a garrison of six hundred archers, returned to Emesa, and employed some time in the distribution of rewards and punishments at the end of so memorable a war, which restored to the obedience of Rome those provinces that had renounced their allegiance since the captivity of Valerian.
Movements of precious metals and ambulatory currency spiked metropolitan areas, while consumer spending showed up as gangs of small people, one per million, flashing their spending areas and products like dust motes dancing on sunlight.
Harry had cheerfully admitted having paid precious little attention to his studies, but his every act and thought spoke of the domination of the Anglophone peoples of the world he had come from.
From these materials, with the counsel and approbation of the patriarch and barons, of the clergy and laity, Godfrey composed the Assise of Jerusalem, a precious monument of feudal jurisprudence.
I may also enjoy the precious privilege of assuring you of my fond, faithful, and unalterable affection, whenever you visit your favorite bower, unless, indeed, it offends your pride to listen to professions of love from the lips of a poor workingman, clad in a blouse and cap.
Grecian, surely he would never so far misspend his precious time, and squander his precious intellect upon old dusty quarrels, never of more value to a philosopher than a tempest in a wash-hand bason, but now stuffed with obscurities which no man can explain, and with lies to which no man can bring the counter-statement.
But now, with the precious bundle in its bassinet next to her, she found herself nodding thoughtfully.
It was de Batz who was to get the reward, and whose welfare and prosperity mattered more than the most precious life in Europe.
The most precious life in Europe even was only to be saved if its price went to swell the pockets of de Batz, or to further his future ambitions.
Slowly he raised his hand, twitching with excitement, and stretched it out towards the cheque, but, before his fingers touched it, Lady Bellamy, as though by accident, dropped her white palm upon the precious paper.
Powerful art Thou to do as Thou willest, there is none other God but Thee, the Gracious, the Most Bountiful, the Compassionate, the Bestower, the Pardoner, the Precious, the All-Knowing.
The men are out on the run--and the blady grass grows high near the paddock, and the fences are precious!
The nine shrinking battalions left trails of crushed and bloodied grass as they crawled northwards and the crawl was threatening to come to a full halt when all that would be left of the division would be nine bands of survivors clustered round their precious colours.