family jewelsn.
/ˌfam(ᵻ)lɪ ˈdʒuː(ə)lz/, /ˌfaml̩ɪ ˈdʒuː(ə)lz/, U.S. /ˈˌfæm(ə)li ˈdʒu(ə)lz/ 1.
a. (A collection of) jewels belonging to a particular family, handed down from generation to generation, esp. as an heirloom. Chiefly with the. Also in singular (in form family jewel): one of such jewels.
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the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > heritable property > heirloom
loom1424
heirloom1472
house-looma1685
family jewels1735
family portrait1814
the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > heritable property > anything handed down
legacy1579
heirloom1612
family jewels1735
family silver1838
1735 D. Noake Life & Adventures Marchioness Urbino 21 My Mother, to please me, dressed me up in all the Family Jewels, which were of a considerable Value.
1744 J. 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.
1761 F. 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.
1814 J. West Alicia de Lacy III. 43 She offered to impawn the family jewels.
1876 M. 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.
1894 W. 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?
1936 Jrnl. Negro Educ. 5 195/2 Making a trousseau for the bride, and occasionally bedecking her with the family jewels.
1990 Independent on Sunday 29 July (Review Suppl.) 36/2 You will meet..Amdowar women with the family jewels entwined in their plaits.
2002 M. Canuel Relig., Toleration, & Brit. Writing, 1790–1830 iv. 132 The Jewish jeweller Manessa is wrongly accused by the Mowbrays of having stolen one of the Mowbray family jewels.
b. figurative and in extended use. Things, qualities, etc., considered to be of great value (materially or otherwise); spec. the most valuable aspects, assets, or resources of a country, company, etc. Also occasionally in singular: one of such qualities, assets, etc. Now chiefly in to sell (off) the family jewels and variants: = to sell (off) the family silver at family silver n. Phrases.
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the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > assets
family jewels1819
asset1825
net asset1863
fixed asset1898
intangible1914
net current asset1919
hidden reserve1930
tangible assets1930
family silver1976
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. iv. 267 His writings..are caskets which inclose within a small compass the wealth of the language—its family jewels.
1823 J. Neal Randolph I. 281 The men of New England may justly boast of their ancestry... Their ‘family jewels’ are not hand-cuffs nor manacles.
1888 H. McCulloch Men & Meas. 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.
1960 S. 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.
1975 U.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.
1990 New Republic 5 Nov. 12/2 In the budget fight, Bush gave away the family jewels, the last ideological bond among Republicans—no new taxes.
1997 M. Rauscher Internat. Trade, Factor Movements, & Environment viii. 248 Indebted countries..overexploit their natural resource bases, i.e...sell the family jewels in order to be able to service the debt.
2001 Daily Record (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. slang and euphemistic (originally U.S.). The male genitals, esp. the testicles.
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the world > life > the body > sex organs > male sex organs > [noun]
genitalsa1393
jewelc1475
tackle1533
virility1598
emblemsa1625
virilities1646
genitalia1651
button1691
wally1698
family jewelsc1920
basket1941
crown jewel1970
lunchbox1972
junk1983
trouser department1985
package1993
c1920 H. N. Cary Sexual Vocab. (typescript) II. in J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang (1994) I. 724/2 Family jewels, the penis and testes.
1946 Amer. Speech 21 33/1 Family jewels, testicles.
1959 M. Russ Half Man Haven 79 Holnady managed to kick Turnipseed in the family jewels.
1970 G. 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.
1984 Cape 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.
2001 Arena Aug. 48/4 I feel her bodyguard grab me. I elbow him in the family jewels.
2010 P. Murray Skippy Dies 378 I'm not going down there to get my family jewels chewed off.
3. U.S. History. (A name for) 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 document. Also with capital initials. Also in extended use.
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1975 Idaho Free Press 11 Oct. 1/5 The CIA report was known within the agency as ‘the skeleton,’ ‘the jewel’ or ‘the family jewels’.
1976 Law & Contemp. Probl. 40 185 Agency officials began to leak damaging information to the press, and one-by-one the ‘family jewels’ were revealed.
1977 D. 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.
1988 Sydney Morning Herald 1 Sept. 7/3 Herbert [was] carrying a briefcase presumably containing some of the family jewels, as the CIA used to call its most precious secrets.
1999 Washington 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.
2003 J. Prados Lost Crusader xiv. 294 Since by definition the collection consisted of accounts by CIA officers of things they feared were illegal, the Family Jewels were automatically controversial.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1735