dear

The dearer the jewel, the greater the love expressed.

There's more depends on this than on the value.
The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,
And find it out by proclamation:
Only for this, I pray you, pardon me.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

This water is sold for 50 cents per ton, which is not dear under the circumstances.

1902, Briquettes as Fuel in Foreign Countries (report of the United States Bureau of Foreign Commerce)

Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear.

1966, The Beatles (lyrics and music), “When I'm Sixty-Four”:

"Yes, children dear, wait a bit till it turns itself," she answered - she ought to have said "till I turn it"[.]

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 62:

So this was my future home, I thought![…]Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

"We shall have to put up with whitebait. And, of course, a dear little chicken with peas and roast potatoes."

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 129:

"I've never met the kind of man I mean." "Tell me about him. What does he look like?" "Oh, he might look very much like you." "How dear of you to say that!"

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

Such dear embrace tenderly comforts even in this dear sorrow.

The dearer the giver, the dearer the trinket he brings!

[…] dear as sacramental wine
To dying lips is all he said […].

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXXVII, page 58:

Precious to or greatly valued by someone.

Dear Sir/Madam/Miss, please notice our offices will be closed during the following bank holidays:[…].

A formal way to start (possibly after my) addressing somebody at the beginning of a letter, memo etc.

My dear friend, I feel better as soon as you come sit beside my sickbed!

“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.[…]”

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

A formal way to start (often after my) addressing somebody one likes or regards kindly.

My dear man, you ought to think twice about who you're trying to blackmail.

An ironic way to start (often after my) addressing an inferior or someone one dislikes.

en-adj

dear (comparative dearer or more dear, superlative dearest or most dear)

dearer (comparative)
more dear (comparative)
dearest (superlative)
most dear (superlative)

թանկ

precious to or greatly valued by someone

(used in translations) 親愛なる (しんあいなる, shin'ai-naru)

tcher (often under French-borrowed "chér")

عَزِيز

an informal way of addressing the recipient in a letter's opening line

(used in translations) 親愛なる (しんあいなる, shin'ai naru)

beste

a formal way to start (often after my) addressing somebody one likes or regards kindly

(mijn) beste

an ironic way to start (often after my) addressing an inferior

From Middle English dere, from Old English dīere (“of great value or excellence, expensive, beloved”), from Proto-West Germanic *diurī, from Proto-Germanic *diurijaz (“dear, precious, expensive”). Cognate with Scots dere, deir (“of great value or worth, highly valued, precious, beloved”), Saterland Frisian djuur (“precious, dear, costly, expensive”), Dutch duur (“costly, precious”), German teuer (“costly, precious”), German Low German düür, Danish dyr (“expensive”), Swedish dyr (“expensive”), Norwegian dyr (“expensive”), Icelandic dýr (“expensive”), Yiddish טייַער (tayer, “precious,expensive”).


dear

My little cousin is such a dear, always drawing me pictures.

Pass me the salt, would you dear?

An affectionate, familiar term of address, such as used between husband and wife.


dear

Nor should a Sonne his Sire loue for reward, But for he is his Sire, in nature dear’d.

1603, John Davies of Hereford, Microcosmos:

I should have known no less: It hath been taught us from the primal state That he which is was wished until he were; And the ebbed man, ne'er loved till ne'er worth love, Comes deared by being lacked.

1623, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra:

Nay, hide him in thy house, and also show Such deared love to him, as to delight In his base company both day and night?

1679, Benjamin Keach, The Glorious Lover, page 164:

en-verb

dear (third-person singular simple present dears, present participle dearing, simple past and past participle deared)

dears (present singular third-person)
dearing (participle present)
deared (participle past)
deared (past)


dear

If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

en-adv

dear (comparative more dear, superlative most dear)

more dear (comparative)
most dear (superlative)


dear

Dear, dear! Whatever were they thinking?

Indicating surprise, pity, or disapproval.


dear

The Christens found the heathens dear, as the lion doth the bear.

From Middle English dere (“fierce, severe, hard, deadly”), from Old English dēor, dȳr (“brave, bold; severe, dire, vehement”), from Proto-Germanic *deuzaz. Cognate with the above.