Precious

presh′us, adj. of great price or worth: costly: highly esteemed: worthle , contemptible (in irony): fastidious, overnice: ( coll. ) considerable: ( B. ) valuable because rare.— adv. ( coll. ) extremely.— n. Precios′ity , fastidiousne , affected overrefinement.— adv. Prec′iously .— ns. Prec′ious-met′al , a metal of great value, as gold or silver; Prec′iousne ; Prec′ious-stone , a stone of value and beauty for ornamentation: a gem or jewel. [O. Fr. precios (Fr. précieux )—L. pretiosus — pretium , price.]