Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small, exquisitely wrought trinket.
- adjective Small and elegant.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun . A jewel; specifically, a jewel of gold richly wrought in the metal itself without the aid of precious stones. See
bijouterie . - noun Hence2. An object of beauty of small size; something delicately pretty; any relatively small charming object.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A trinket; a jewel; -- a word applied to anything small and of elegant workmanship.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
jewel - noun a piece of
jewelry , atrinket - noun a small intricately made metalworking
- adjective of a residence small and elegant
- adjective
intricate ; finely made
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a small and delicately worked piece
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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(My Petit Robert on CD-ROM allows searches by all entry fields by which I think I discovered that "bijou" is from Breton.)
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Egbert Dormer did not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but he was overflowing with art up to his ears — and with tobacco, so that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous.
Ayala's Angel 2004
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Egbert Dormer did not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but he was overflowing with art up to his ears -- and with tobacco, so that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous.
Ayala's Angel 1993
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Egbert Dormer did not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but he was overflowing with art up to his ears -- and with tobacco, so that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous.
Ayala's Angel 1881
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Egbert Dormer did not turn out from his hand so much work as some men that I know, but he was overflowing with art up to his ears -- and with tobacco, so that, upon the whole, the bijou was a pleasant rendezvous.
Ayala's Angel 1881
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The bijou, that is now missing one diamond, is estimated to sell for between $US300,000 ($307,000) to $US500,000 ($511,000) at the auction, set for December 15-17.
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It houses not only a flat-screen television, DVD player, reclining leather armchair, capacious bookshelves and an L-shaped execu-desk, but also a loo and what an estate agent might call a bijou kitchenette.
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My cottage is what estate agents used to call 'bijou'.
Kitchen Confidential Peter Ashley 2008
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It is now wall to wall marina with one 'bijou' corner' being reserved for the new BBC premises pete
ALL AT SEA.. 2009
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My Petit Robert on CD-ROM allows searches by all entry fields by which I think I discovered that "bijou" is from Breton.
she commented on the word bijou
Also French, 'jewel'
July 15, 2008
aequoria commented on the word bijou
Yes, it's French. It comes from the Breton word bizou "(jewelled) ring" from bez "finger". Early known documented usage in English is dated 1668.
December 7, 2008