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Worthly of being chosen or preferred; select; superior; precious; valuable. My choicest hours of life are lost. Swift.

ate; to make close; -- as the parts which compose a body. Now the bright sun compacts the precious stone. Blackstone.

at a focus or point, as two or more lines; to concentrate. In thee concentering all their precious beams. Milton. All is concentered in a life intense. Byren.

wed the soul had passed away, A consciousness remained that it had left. . . . images and precious thoughts That shall not die, and can not be destroyed. Wordsworth. The consciousness of wrong brought with it the consciousness of weakness. Froude.

A shallow porus cup, used in refining precious metals, commonly made of bone ashes (phosphate of lime). [Written also coppel.] Cupel dust, powder used in purifying metals.

That which is delicious or delicate; a delicacy. That precious nectar may the taste renew Of Eden's dainties, by our parents lost. Beau. & Fl.

Highly valued; greatly beloved; cherished; precious. "Hear me, dear lady." Shak. Neither count I my life dear unto myself. Acts xx. 24. And the last joy was dearer than the rest. Pope. Dear as remember'd kisses after death. Tennyson.

Fondness; preciousness; love; tenderness. The dearness of friendship. Bacon.

Precious. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

Precious. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

A precious stone or gem excelling in brilliancy and beautiful play of prismatic colors, and remarkable for extreme hardness.

dust and powder of individuality. Burke. This restriction disconnects bank paper and the precious metals. Walsh.

y at their call, They stood prepared to see the manna fall. Dryden. Heaven has in store a precious dole. Keble.

That which is poured out, literally or figuratively. Wash me with that precious effusion, and I shall be whiter than sow. Eikon Basilike. The light effusions of a heedless boy. Byron.

y to an imaginary country in the interior of South America, reputed to abound in gold and precious stones.

A precious stone of a rich green color, a variety of beryl. See Beryl.

th gold; to encircle; to inclose; to adorn. Enchased with a wanton ivy twine. Spenser. An precious stones, in studs of gold enchased, The shaggy velvet of his buskins graced. Mickle.

ntity shorn from a sheep, or animal, at one time. Who shore me Like a tame wether, all my precious fleece. Milton.

Belonging or relating to Florence, in Italy. Florentine mosaic, a mosaic of hard or semiprecious stones, often so chosen and arranged that their natural colors represent leaves, flowers, and the like, inlaid in a background, usually of black or white marble.

ing to the number of arcs of which it is composed. Foil stone, an imitation of a jewel or precious stone.