gems

Noun

gem (countable and uncountable, plural gems)

1. A precious stone, usually of substantial monetary value or prized for its beauty or shine.
   • 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;1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 144

   Synonyms:

   gemstone

2. (figuratively) Any precious or highly valued thing or person.
   • She's an absolute gem.
   1. (broadly, figuratively) 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
   2. (Internet, broadly, figuratively) Internet content of good quality.
3. (obsolete) A gemma or leaf bud.
   • Then from the Joynts of thy prolifick Stemm
     A swelling Knot is raised (call’d a Gemm)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
4. A geometrid moth of the species Orthonama obstipata.

See all 15 meanings of gem