cherish

present singular third person cherishes · participle present cherishing · participle past cherished · past cherished

1. To treat with affection, care, and tenderness; to nurture or protect with care.

   [T]he ſame Sun vvhich only cheriſheth and gently vvarmes his Countrey men, halfe parboyle and tanne other people, and thoſe rayes vvhich ſcorch the aduſted ſoyles of Calabria and Spaine, only varniſh and guild the green hony-ſuckled plaines and hillocks of England; […]

   1642, James Howell, “Section XVII”, in Instructions for Forreine Travell. […], London: […] T. B. for Humprey Mosley [i.e., Humphrey Moseley] […], →OCLC, page 213

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   But the parent, we will ſuppose, cheriſhes his child with an affectionate indulgent care, and with all the circumſpection and aſſiduity that nature requires, in his infirm helpleſs ſtate of infancy; aſſiſts and cheriſhes his underſtanding, in its tender growth does; his utmoſt, according to his ability, to inculcate and impreſs religious principles, […]

   1752, James Foster, “Some Observations on the True Ground of the Duty of Parents towards Their Children, and on Its General Nature, and Offices”, in Discourses on All the Principal Branches of Natural Religion and Social Virtue, volume II, London: Printed for the author; and sold by Mr. Noon [et al.], →OCLC, pages 95–96

   On the evening previous to her being brought to my home, my mother had said playfully,—"I have a pretty present for my Victor—to-morrow he shall have it." And when, on the morrow, she presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally, and looked upon Elizabeth as mine—mine to protect, love, and cherish.

   1831 October 31, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, chapter I, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 22–23

   There were many wooden chairs for the bulk of his visitors, and two wicker arm-chairs with red cloth cushions for superior people. From the packing-cases had emerged some Indian clubs, boxing-gloves, a model oar, and other modest trophies or mementos of his college boating club; and all these articles, together with small knicknacks dating from Oxford days, made a scattered and untidy decoration that Mrs. Clough assiduously dusted and greatly cherished.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 184

2. To have a deep appreciation of; to hold dear.

   his long-cherished dream

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   I cherish your friendship.

   Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […]

   1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III

   So by cheriſhing Humility, Pride is weakned, by cheriſhing Patience, Violent Paſſions, and Anger, and Peeviſhneſs are deſtroyed, by cheriſhing Purity, and Chaſtity of Heart and Thoughts, Uncleanneſs is mortified, and ſo by cheriſhing heavenly mindedneſs, the love of the world is abated and weakned: and the like might be ſhewed in other inſtances.

   1665, Samuel Cradock, “Of Righteousness, Sanctification, and Holiness of Life”, in Knowledge and Practice: Or, A Plain Discourse, of the Chief Things Necessary to be Known, Believ’d, and Practised in Order to Salvation. […], 2nd revised and inlarged edition, London: Printed for William Grantham […], Henry Mortlock […], and William Miller […], →OCLC, pages 77–78

   The age in which all thought that trades must be established by bounties and prohibitions; that manufacturers needed their materials and qualities and prices to be prescribed; and that the value of money could be determined by law; was an age which unavoidably cherished the notions that a child's mind could be made to order; that its powers were to be imparted by the schoolmaster; that it was a receptacle into which knowledge was to be put and there built up after its teacher's ideal.

   1898, Herbert Spencer, “Intellectual Education”, in Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, pages 98–99

   We came under the influence of his [Mahadev Govind Ranade's] work and his thoughts, and we owe it to ourselves to show that his memory is to us a most cherished possession.

   1904 July 24, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, chapter III, in Speeches of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, 3rd edition, Madras: G. A. Natesan & Co., published 1920, →OCLC, page 787

   Synonyms: prize, treasure, appreciate, bedear, esteem, hold dear, prize, think much of · Antonyms: despise

3. obsoleteTo cheer, to gladden.

   And by the way, as was her wonted guize, / Her merry fitt ſhee freſhly gan to reare, / And did of ioy and iollitie deuize, / Her ſelfe to cheriſh, and her gueſt to cheare: […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 21, page 262

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   The webbe of our life, is of a mingled yarne, good / and ill together: our vertues would bee proud, if our faults / whipt them not, and our crimes would diſpaire if they / were not cheriſh'd by our vertues.

   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 IV, scene iii], page 247

   Synonyms: elate, jollify, beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, bright, cheer

1. A female given name.