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.
Wiktionary
n. (precious metal English)
Usage examples of "precious metals".
Darkmoon can detect the direction and distance of gems and precious metals within a 100-yard radius of itself at will and will communicate this to its bearer as it chooses through speech.
And this is probably the origin of the comparative value of these metals: they became the precious metals because they were the sacred metals, and gold was more valuable than silver--just as the sun-god was the great god of the nations, while the mild moon was simply an attendant upon the sun.
As Lord of the Seas, Ea built ships that sailed to far lands, and especially to places from which precious metals and semiprecious stones were brought to Sumer.
The jewels were, however, left to Uncle Hafiz, who had sent for skilled craftsmen as well as the raw materials of precious metals and uncut gems, and supervised the styles and elegance of what each girl would wear.
Lando gives Han and Nien a mission to see two kids (royal heirs) to the metalworks of Vandelhelm in hopes they will help the Alliance restock the shipyards with precious metals.
A vase or a statue of those precious metals might tempt the vanity of some Barbarian chief.
As with the throne in Q'Nkok, this was made of many different inlaid woods, but the local monarch's throne was also set with precious metals and gems.
He wants enough of us to die off so there'll be load capacity enough on the rocket ship to carry back precious metals.