dear
dear / dîr
adjective 1. regarded with deep affection; cherished Through the wrinkles of time, through the bowed frame of years, you will always see the dear face and feel the warm heart union of your eternal love. Alfred Armand Montapert, 1906 - 1997 2. expensive, costly Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that. Benjamin Franklin, 1706 - 1790 3. highly valued, precious Live and allow others to live; hurt no one; life is dear to all living beings. Mahavira, c. 599 BC – c. 527 BC 4. important A sympathetic friend can be quite as dear as a brother. Homer, fl. 9th or 8th century BC 5. highly respected, used as an address before a title or name in salutation Dear God: You do such wonderful things for complete strangers; why not for me? Yiddish Proverb noun 1. used as an affectionate or friendly form of address I am just a musical prostitute, my dear. Freddie Mercury 2. a person who is greatly loved I’ll love you dear, I’ll love you ‘till China and Africa meet and the river jumps over the mountain and the salmon sing in the street. W.H. Auden, 1907 - 1973 3. a loveable person He is such a dear. Mary Cowper Powys, 1849 - 1914 adverb 1. at a high cost Wisdom is a good purchase, though we pay dear for it. Dutch Proverb 2. with affection; fondly Hold dear to your parents for it is a scary and confusing world without them. Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886 interjection 1. used in expressions of surprise, sympathy or distress There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, “Oh dear! oh dear! I shall be too late!” ( as she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit, actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket and looked at it, and hurried on, Alice started to her feet because it flashed across her mind that she had never seen a rabbit with a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and, burning with curiosity she ran across the field after it and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit hole under the hedge. Lewis Carroll, 1832 - 1898