gem

From Middle English gemme, from Old English gim, gimm (“gem”) and Old French gemme (“gem”); both from Latin gemma (“a swelling bud; a jewel; gem”).

• enPR: jĕm, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛm/
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Homophones: jam, jamb

gem (plural gems)

1. A precious stone, usually of substantial monetary value or prized for its beauty or shine.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 1, Canto 10, p. 144,

     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;

   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, Act V, Scene 3,

     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.

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4, lines 647-649,

     […] then silent Night

     With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon,

     And these the Gemms of Heav’n, her starrie train:

   • 2012 March 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 128:

     Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.

2. (figuratively) Any precious or highly valued thing or person.

   She's an absolute gem.

   • 2017 January 20, Annie Zaleski, “AFI sounds refreshed and rejuvenated on its 10th album, AFI (The Blood Album)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     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.

3. 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

4. (obsolete) 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 Knot is raised (call’d a Gemm)

   • 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 cane are seen […]

5. A type of geometrid moth, Orthonama obstipata.
6. (computing) A package containing programs or libraries for the Ruby programming language.
7. (uncountable, printing, uncommon, obsolete) A size of type between brilliant (4-point) and diamond (4½-point), running 222 lines to the foot.

• (precious stone): gemstone, jewel, precious stone; see also Thesaurus:gemstone

• begem
• Gem County
• Gem State

gem (third-person singular simple present gems, present participle gemming, simple past and past participle gemmed)

1. (transitive) To adorn with, or as if with, gems.
   • 1827, Various, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10,‎:

     A few bright and beautiful stars gemmed the wide concave of heaven […] .

   • 1872, J. Fenimore Cooper, The Bravo‎:

     Above was the firmament, gemmed with worlds, and sublime in immensity.

   • 1920, John Freeman, Poems New and Old‎:

     The rain Shook from fruit bushes in new showers again As I brushed past, and gemmed the window pane.

• begem

• Wikipedia article on Gemstones

• EGM, EMG, MEG, Meg, meg, meg-

• ghèban (Sette Comuni)

From Middle High German geben, from Old High German geban, from Proto-Germanic *gebaną. Cognate with German geben, Dutch geven, obsolete English yive, Icelandic gefa.

gem (strong)

1. (Luserna) to give

• “gem” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

gem

1. imperative of gemme

gem

1. body

From English jam.

gem n (plural gemuri)

1. jam (sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar)

gem

1. first-person singular present indicative of geme
2. first-person singular present subjunctive of geme
3. third-person plural present indicative of geme

• IPA^(key): /ɡeːm/

gem n

1. a paper clip
2. (tennis) a game; part of a set

• gem in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)
• gem in Svenska Akademiens ordbok online.

• IPA^(key): [ɡem]

gem (plural gems)

1. sibling
   • 1949, "Lifajenäd brefik cifala: ‚Jakob Sprenger‛", in Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, issue 4, 13-14.

     ‚Jakob‛ äbinom cil mälid se gems vel: blods lul e sörs tel.

     Jakob was the fifth child out of seven siblings: five brothers and two sisters.

• blod (“brother”)
• higem (“brother”)
• jiblod (“sister”)
• jigem (“sister”)
• sör (“sister”)

• (collective) gemef (“brother(s) and/or sister(s)”)
• (adjective) gemik (“sibling”)