| 释义 |
family jewel, n.
Brit. |ˌfam(ɪ)li ˈdʒuː(ə)l|, |ˌfamlˌi ˈdʒuː(ə)l|, U.S. |ˈˌfæm(ə)li ˈdʒu(ə)l|
[‹ family n. + jewel n.]
1.
a. A jewel belonging to a particular family, handed down from generation to generation, esp. as an heirloom. Chiefly in pl. (freq. with the): a collection of such jewellery.
1744J. Ralph Astrologer iii. i. 37 Oh, I am in Ten times more Trouble about my Ring. 'Tis a Family-Jewel, And I shou'd be somewhat loth to part With it, even to my dear Clara. 1761F. C. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph I. 50 Those she reserves for Sir George, against the time of his marriage, as a present for his lady; for they are family jewels. 1814J. West Alicia de Lacy III. 43 She offered to impawn the family jewels. 1876M. Westland Life's Ransom i. iii. 215 A catalogue of all your movables, Plate, pictures, suits of armour, family jewels—No, jewels pass as heirlooms. 1894W. Robson tr. A. Dumas Three Musketeers II. viii. 78 The sapphire is yours, my dear Athos! Did you not tell me it was a family jewel? 1936Jrnl. Negro Educ. 5 195/2 Making a trousseau for the bride, and occasionally bedecking her with the family jewels. 1990Independent on Sunday 29 July (Rev. Suppl.) 36/2 You will meet..Amdowar women with the family jewels entwined in their plaits.
b. In extended and fig. use: something considered to be of great value (materially or otherwise); a precious or venerable legacy. Chiefly in pl. (usu. with the): the most valuable commodities or resources; freq. in to sell (etc.) the family jewels.
In early use, typically as part of an extended metaphor.
1823J. Neal Randolph I. 281 The men of New England may justly boast of their ancestry... Their ‘family jewels’ are not hand-cuffs nor manacles. 1888H. McCulloch Men & Measures of Half Cent. i. 7 New England mothers are no longer prolific. The family jewels are not sons and daughters, but stocks and bonds, and luxurious homes. 1960S. Ullman Image in Mod. French Novel iii. 173 Some of them [sc. figurative images in Proust] tend to be purely ornamental or a little precious: the chamber music of the flies, blue eyes inherited as a family jewel. 1975U.S. News & World Rep. 7 Apr. 21/1 The family jewels are in Saigon and the Delta. That's where most of the people are and most of the rice is grown. 1990New Republic 5 Nov. 12/2 In the budget fight, Bush gave away the family jewels, the last ideological bond among Republicans—no new taxes. 2001Daily Rec. (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 18 Dec. Rangers have nevertheless been systematically selling off the family jewels. Jorg Albertz, Giovanni van Bronckhurst,..and Kenny Miller have all gone.
2. In pl. slang and euphem. (orig. U.S.). The male genitals, esp. the testicles.
1916–22H. N. Cary Sexual Vocab. II, in J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang (1994) I. 724/2 Family jewels, the penis and testes. 1946Amer. Speech 21 33/1 Family jewels, testicles. 1959M. Russ Half Man Haven 79 Holnady managed to kick Turnipseed in the family jewels. 1970G. Scott-Heron Vulture v. 196 At the next board meeting he'll be castrated and his family jewels set in bronze as a lesson to all. 1984Cape Style (S. Afr.) Nov. 48 He kept..lunging at the ladies' breasts as they walked past. Then he took to pulling out his ‘family jewels’ as he called them. 2001Arena Aug. 48/4, I feel her bodyguard grab me. I elbow him in the family jewels.
3. In pl. U.S. Hist. The name given to a document detailing alleged illicit and clandestine activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, compiled in 1973 by the newly appointed Director of Central Intelligence, William Colby; the secrets contained in this. Also in extended use.
1977D. Schorr Clearing the Air vii. 143 No word of ‘The Family Jewels’ was given to President Nixon—who might have used it for pressure against the CIA. 1988Sydney Morning Herald 1 Sept. 7/3 Herbert, carrying a briefcase presumably containing some of the family jewels, as the CIA used to call its most precious secrets. 1999Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 24 Oct. The Family Jewels told all: of plots to assassinate foreign leaders, overthrow governments, bug journalists, test psychedelic drugs on unwary subjects. |