- Dear
- Dear Dear (d[=e]r), a. [Compar. {Dearer} (d[=e]r"[~e]r);
superl. {Dearest} (d[=e]r"[e^]st).] [OE. dere, deore, AS.
de['o]re; akin to OS. diuri, D. duur, OHG. tiuri, G. theuer,
teuer, Icel. d[=y]rr, Dan. & Sw. dyr. Cf. {Darling},
{Dearth}.]
1. Bearing a high price; high-priced; costly; expensive.
[1913 Webster]
The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
2. Marked by scarcity or dearth, and exorbitance of price; as, a dear year. [1913 Webster]
3. Highly valued; greatly beloved; cherished; precious. ``Hear me, dear lady.'' --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Neither count I my life dear unto myself. --Acts xx. 24. [1913 Webster]
And the last joy was dearer than the rest. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
Dear as remember'd kisses after death. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
4. Hence, close to the heart; heartfelt; present in mind; engaging the attention. (a) Of agreeable things and interests. [1913 Webster]
[I'll] leave you to attend him: some dear cause Will in concealment wrap me up awhile. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
His dearest wish was to escape from the bustle and glitter of Whitehall. --Macaulay. (b) Of disagreeable things and antipathies. [1913 Webster]
In our dear peril. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
