gem

Symbol

gem

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-5 language code for Germanic languages.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English gemme, gimme, yimme, ȝimme, from Old English ġimm, from Proto-West Germanic *gimmu (“gem”) and Old French gemme (“gem”), both from Latin gemma (“a swelling bud; jewel, gem”). Doublet of gemma and Gemma.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛm/
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm

Noun

gem (countable and uncountable, plural gems)

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

     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;

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     Of six preceding ancestors, that gem,
     Conferr’d by testament to the sequent issue,
     Hath it been owed and worn. This is his wife;
     That ring’s a thousand proofs.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 647-649:

     […] then silent Night
     With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon,
     And these the Gemms of Heav’n, her starrie train:

   • 2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 June 2012, page 128:

     Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.

3. (figuratively) Any precious or highly valued thing or person.

   She's an absolute gem.

   • 2017 January 20, Annie Zaleski, “AFI sounds refreshed and rejuvenated on its 10th album, AFI (The Blood Album)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     Standout “Hidden Knives” is the kind of new wave-leaning punk gem John Hughes would’ve loved, while “So Beneath You” is a teeth-baring, roiling tune.

4. 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

5. (obsolete) A gemma or leaf-bud.
   • 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,

     Then from the Joynts of thy prolifick Stemm

     A swelling Knot is raised (call’d a Gemm)

   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

     Among the crooked Lanes, on every Hedge, / The Glow-Worm lights his Gem […] .

   • 1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, p. xcii,

     In about twelve days the sprouts from the gems of the planted cane are seen […]

6. A geometrid moth of the species Orthonama obstipata.
7. (computing) A package containing programs or libraries for the Ruby programming language.
8. (uncountable, printing, uncommon, obsolete) A size of type between brilliant (4-point) and diamond (4½-point), running 222 lines to the foot.
9. (Internet slang, 4chan, soyjak.party slang) Internet content of good quality.

   Antonyms: coal, brimstone

Verb

gem (third-person singular simple present gems, present participle gemming, simple past and past participle gemmed)

1. (transitive) To adorn with, or as if with, gems.
   • 1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Canto I”, in Queen Mab; […], London: […] P. B. Shelley, […], →OCLC, page 6:

     [T]he fair star / That gems the glittering coronet of morn, / Sheds not a light so mild, so powerful, / As that which, bursting from the Fairy's form, / Spread a purpureal halo round the scene, / Yet with an undulating motion, / Swayed to her outline gracefully.

   • 1827, Various, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10,‎:

     A few bright and beautiful stars gemmed the wide concave of heaven […] .

   • 1872, J. Fenimore Cooper, The Bravo‎:

     Above was the firmament, gemmed with worlds, and sublime in immensity.

   • 1920, John Freeman, Poems New and Old‎:

     The rain Shook from fruit bushes in new showers again As I brushed past, and gemmed the window pane.

   • 1922 February, Miriam Campbell, “A Dream of Brittany”, in The Educational Times: A Review of Ideas and Methods, volume IV (new series)/LXXIV (old series), page 64, column 1:

     And those salt tears your lashes gemmed / Were but the breath of flame distilled; / Flame white and pure, and diademmed / With suffering,—pain with joy fulfilled.

References

• Gemstones on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “gem”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• EGM, EMG, MEG, MGE, Meg, meg, meg-