DEAR • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Dear

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adjective

Dear adj. (compar. dearer; superl. dearest)

Bearing a high price; high-priced; costly; expensive. "The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear."

Marked by scarcity or dearth, and exorbitance of price; as, a dear year.

Highly valued; greatly beloved; cherished; precious. "Hear me, dear lady." "Neither count I my life dear unto myself." "And the last joy was dearer than the rest." "Dear as remember'd kisses after death."

Hence, close to the heart; heartfelt; present in mind; engaging the attention.

(a)

Of agreeable things and interests. "(I'll) leave you to attend him: some dear cause Will in concealment wrap me up awhile." "His dearest wish was to escape from the bustle and glitter of Whitehall."

(b)

Of disagreeable things and antipathies. "In our dear peril." "Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day."

noun

Dear n. A dear one; lover; sweetheart. "That kiss I carried from thee, dear."

adverb

Dear adv. Dearly; at a high price. "If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear."

verb

Dear v. t. To endear. (Obs.)

See images of 'Dear'

Etymology of 'Dear'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Dear" Quotes from Famous Books

... Dear reader, please accept my apologies for having left my original subject and brought you back to the Civil war. Back to the Santa Fe ...

— The Second William Penn - A true account of incidents that happened along the - old Santa Fe Trail • William H. Ryus

... cared very little for him. My sisters, to be sure, joked me about my conquest; and I felt, I confess, a proper pride in owning a lover like the rest; but of real affection for him I had then very little; and I often think, my dear, that we women seldom value devotion such as his till too late. I was not old enough to think seriously of marriage; but Latimer was convinced I should become his wife, and (poor fellow!) made all his arrangements ...

— Kate Coventry - An Autobiography • G. J. Whyte-Melville

... L. My dear child, what good? Was any woman, do you suppose, ever the better for possessing diamonds? but how many have been made base, frivolous, and miserable by desiring them? Was ever man the better for having coffers full of gold? But who shall ...

— The Ethics of the Dust • John Ruskin

... the lover is weary with loving and striving in vain, And even as a spoil is his body in the hands of sickness and pain. Who should there be, 'mongst the riders on camels with haltered head, Save a lover whose dear-beloved the camel-litters contain! A moon, in your tents that rises, to Allah I commend, One my heart loves and tenders, shut in from the sight of her swain. Anon she is kind, anon angry: how goodly her coquetry is! For all that is done ...

— The Book Of The Thousand Nights And One Night, Volume III • Anonymous

... the face will shine Upon me while I muse alone; And that dear voice, I once have known, Still speak to me ...

— Personal Friendships of Jesus • J. R. Miller

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