gem

A precious stone, usually of substantial monetary value or prized for its beauty or shine.

Noun

  1. A precious stone, usually of substantial monetary value or prized for its beauty or shine.
    • And on her head she wore a tyre of gold, Adornd with gemmes and owches wondrous fayre, Whose passing price vneath was to be told; - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John...
    • Of six preceding ancestors, that gem, Conferr’d by testament to the sequent issue, Hath it been owed and worn. This is his wife; That ring’s a thousand proofs. - c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s...
    • […] then silent Night With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon, And these the Gemms of Heav’n, her starrie train: - 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be...
  2. Any precious or highly valued thing or person.
    • She's an absolute gem.
    • Standout “Hidden Knives” is the kind of new wave-leaning punk gem John Hughes would’ve loved, while “So Beneath You” is a teeth-baring, roiling tune. - 2017 January 20, Annie Zaleski, “AFI sounds refreshed and...
    • Miller and Mars scoured lower Manhattan and Brooklyn for a brownstone that would meet their needs, but it wasn't until they discovered a gem nestled on a quiet Upper West Side block that they knew they'd found the one....

    1. (by extension) Anything of small size, or expressed within brief limits, which is regarded as a gem on account of its beauty or value, such as a small picture, a verse of poetry, or an epigram.

      • a gem of wit

    2. (by extension, Internet slang) Internet content of good quality.

      Antonyms: coal brimstone slop

  3. A gemma or leaf bud.
    • c. 1668, John Denham (translator), Of Old Age by Cato the Elder, Part 3, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy, London: H. Herringman, 4th edition, 1773, p. 35, Then from the Joynts of thy prolifick Stemm A swelling...
    • Among the crooked Lanes, on every Hedge, / The Glow-Worm lights his Gem […]. - a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published...
    • 1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, p. xcii, In about twelve days the sprouts from the gems of the planted...
  4. A geometrid moth of the species Orthonama obstipata.
  5. A package containing programs or libraries for the Ruby programming language.
  6. A size of type between brilliant (4-point) and diamond (4½-point), running 222 lines to the foot.
  7. A strong, dominating pitching performance.
    • 2025, Associated Press, Crochet gets 1st career shutout and complete game as Red Sox beat Rays for 9th straight win by Associated Press, He didn’t walk a batter in his 100-pitch gem

Origin

Inherited from Middle English gemme, gimme, yimme, ȝimme, from Old English ġimm, from Proto-West Germanic *gimmu (“gem”) and Old French gemme (“gem”), both from Latin gemma (“a swelling bud; jewel, gem”). Doublet of gemma and Gemma.

Forms

gems

Synonyms

gemstone jewel precious stone

Derived

begem cardinal gem gem clip Gem County gemcutter gem-cutter gem cutter gem-diol gem-diolate gem-disubstituent effect gemerald gem-faced civet gemfish gem-hydrogenation gemless gemlike gemmer gemmery gemmy gemology gemsetter gemsetting gemsmith gemsona

Verb

  1. To adorn with, or as if with, gems.
    • [T]he fair star / That gems the glittering coronet of morn, / Sheds not a light so mild, so powerful, / As that which, bursting from the Fairy's form, / Spread a purpureal halo round the scene, / Yet with an undulating...
    • A few bright and beautiful stars gemmed the wide concave of heaven[…]. - 1827, Various, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10,:
    • Above was the firmament, gemmed with worlds, and sublime in immensity. - 1872, J. Fenimore Cooper, The Bravo:

Forms

gems gemming gemmed

Synonyms

begem