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. 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. Daus, trans. 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. Maundev. (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. Shaks., 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 afterwards, 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 honor, or as a mark of distinction or honor.
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.
1895. S. L. Yeats, Honour of Savelli, ix. 93–4. My cross of St. Lazare…. I sat staring at the jewels and at the diamonds on it.
2. 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. Shaks., Mids. N., III. i. 161. Ile giue thee fairies to attend on thee, And they shall fetch thee Iewels from the deepe. Ibid. (1607), Cor., I. iv. 56. Thou art left Martius, A Carbuncle intire, as big as thou art, Weare not so rich a Iewell.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. viii. 6. Amongst the rest a iewell rich he found That was a Ruby of right perfect hew.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 214. A Ring of pure gold, without any Iewell in it.
1655. [see 1 γ].
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess Mar, 10 March. 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. Shaks., 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. Watch-making. 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 March, 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. Ibid. (1897), 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.’
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. Shaks., 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.
† 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. Blanckley, Nav. Expos., 82. Jewel, Made not unlike the Ring of an Anchor, and of Substance, that its Weight may carry it down, to purchase any Thing 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. Falck, Day’s Diving Vessel, 29. Then a jewel, well parcelled with about an hundredweight of stones together with a messenger or jewel-rope, was let over the hawser, and run down, in order to jam the sweep.
5. Comb. a. appositive, as jewel-bud, -fire, -stone. b. attrib. Of or for jewels, as jewel-box, -case, -casket, -coffer, -hunger, -merchant, -mine, -tint. c. instrumental, similative, etc., as jewel-colo(u)red, -enshrined, -gleaming, -headed, -like, -loving, -proof, -studded adjs. d. Special Combs.: † jewel-darling a., as dear or highly prized as a jewel; jewel-hole (Watch-making), 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, the plants Impatiens fulva and I. pallida of N. America, ‘from the earring-like shape of the flowers, and the silver sheen of the under surface of the leaf in water’ (Cent. Dict., 1890).
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. A little jewel-case she had once given him on his birthday.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 602. The first that ever was knowne to have any such at Rome, was Scaurus,… untill Pompeius the Great met with the *jewell-casket of King 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 *Iewell-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. Adah 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. Shaks., Per., V. i. 111. Her eyes as jewel-like, And cased as richly.
1859. J. 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. Lady Hartford, Corr. (1805), I. 51. On Saturday my lord Townshend gave up the jewel-office.
1618. Fletcher, Loyall Subject, III. ii. (1647), 35/2. An honest mind I hope, ’tis petticote-proofe, Chaine proofe, and *jewell-proof: I know ’tis gold proof.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. III. 166. Beauty complete With gold and pearl and *jewel-stone.
1884. Miller, Plant-n., Impatiens fulva, Spotted *Jewel-weed.
