Prize vs Precious - What's the difference?
prize | precious |
That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.
* Spenser
(military, nautical) Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; especially, property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel.
An honour or reward striven for in a competitive contest; anything offered to be competed for, or as an inducement to, or reward of, effort.
* Dryden
That which may be won by chance, as in a lottery.
Anything worth striving for; a valuable possession held or in prospect.
* Bible, Phil. iii. 14
A contest for a reward; competition.
A lever; a pry; also, the hold of a lever. Also spelled prise.
To consider highly valuable; to esteem.
* Shakespeare
* Dryden
(obsolete) To set or estimate the value of; to appraise; to price; to rate.
* Bible, Zech. xi. 13
* Shakespeare
To move with a lever; to force up or open; to prise or pry.
(obsolete) To compete in a prizefight.
Of high value or worth, or seemingly regarded as such.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author=(Polly Toynbee)
, volume=189, issue=10, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Regarded with love or tenderness.
(pejorative) Treated with too much reverence.
(pejorative) Contrived to be cute or charming.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 24, author=Nathan Rabin, work=The Onion AV Club
, title= Someone (or something) who is loved; a darling.
* J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
* 1909 , Mrs. Teignmouth Shore, The Pride of the Graftons (page 57)
As a noun prize
is that which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.As a verb prize
is to consider highly valuable; to esteem.As a proper noun precious is
.prize
English
(wikipedia prize)Etymology 1
From (etyl) prise, from (etyl) ; see prehend. Compare prison, apprise, comprise, enterprise, purprise, reprisal, suprise, etc.Noun
(en noun)- His own prize , / Whom formerly he had in battle won.
- I fought and conquered, yet have lost the prize .
- I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
- (Shakespeare)
Derived terms
* booby prize * consolation prize * door prize * prizewinner, prize winner * prize-winning * pushing prizeUsage notes
Do not confuse with .See also
* prise * priceEtymology 2
From (etyl) prysen, from (etyl) ; see price. Compare praise, appraise, apprize.Verb
(priz)- [I] do love, prize , honour you.
- I prized your person, but your crown disdain.
- A goodly price that I was prized at.
- I prize it [life] not a straw, but for mine honour.
External links
* * 1000 English basic wordsprecious
English
Alternative forms
* pretious (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)Britain's booming birthrate, passage=People are a good thing, the most precious resource in a rich economy, so the progressive-minded feel. Only misanthropists disagree or the dottier Malthusians who send green-ink tweets deploring any state assistance for child-rearing.}}
Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3, passage=In the abstract, Stuhlbarg’s twinkly-eyed sidekick suggests Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2 by way of late-period Robin Williams with an alien twist, but Stuhlbarg makes a character that easily could have come across as precious into a surprisingly palatable, even charming man.}}
Synonyms
* (of high value) dear, valuable * (contrived to charm) saccharine, syrupy, tweeNoun
(es)- “It isn't fair, my precious , is it, to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?”
- She sat down with the dogs in her lap. "I won't neglect you for any one, will I, my preciouses ?"
Adverb
(-)- There is precious little we can do.