Dictionary Definition
treasure
Noun
1 accumulated wealth in the form of money or
jewels etc.; "the pirates hid their treasure on a small island in
the West Indies" [syn: hoarded
wealth]
2 art highly prized for its beauty or perfection
[syn: gem]
3 any possession that is highly valued by its
owner; "the children returned from the seashore with their shells
and other treasures"
4 a collection of precious things; "the trunk
held all her meager treasures"
Verb
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From tresor, from thesaurus, from θησαυρός.Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɛʒə(r)
Noun
- : A collection of valuable things.
- buried treasure.
- : Any single thing one values greatly.
- : A term of endearment.
Translations
collection of valuable things
- Arabic:
- Basque: altxor
- Catalan: tresor
- Chinese: 珍寶, 珍宝 (zhēnbǎo); 寶藏, 宝藏 (bǎozàng)
- Czech: poklad
- Dutch: schat
- Estonian: aare
- Finnish: aarre
- French: trésor
- German: Schatz
- Greek: θησαυρός (thisavrós)
- Hindi: खजाना (khajānā)
- Hungarian: kincs
- Italian: tesoro
- Japanese: 宝 (たから, takara), 宝物 (takara monó)
- Korean: 보물 (bomul), 보배 (bobae)
- Latin: thesaurus
- Maori: taonga
- Occitan: tresaur
- Old English: sceat
- Persian: (ganjineh)
- Portuguese: tesouro
- Russian: сокровище (sokróvišče)
- Slovak: poklad
- Spanish: tesoro
- Swedish: skatt , rikedom
- Thai: (sŏm-bàt)
any single thing one values greatly
- French: trésor
Verb
- To consider something or someone to be precious.
- Oh, this ring is beautiful! I’ll treasure it forever.
Translations
consider something or someone to be precious
- French: garder précieusement, priser
- Italian: apprezzare
- Slovak: vážiť si
- Spanish: atesorar
Derived terms
Extensive Definition
Treasure (from Greek
θησαυρος; thesaurus,
meaning "a treasure of words", is a cognate) is a concentration of
riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being
rediscovered. Some jurisdictions legally define what constitutes
treasure (such as in the English Treasure
Act 1996).
The phrase "blood and treasure" or "lives and
treasure" has been used to refer to the human and monetary costs
associated with various (usually state-initiated)
endeavours such as space exploration or war.
Treasure hunting
Searching for hidden treasure is a common theme in legend and fiction, but real-life treasure hunters exist, and seek lost wealth for a living. Spanish treasure lost from the Spanish treasure fleet consisted of gold, silver, jewels (especially emeralds) and also cocoa, vanilla and brazilwood.Archaeologists
are sometimes described as treasure hunters, especially those from
the 19th
Century, although they themselves rarely wish to be associated
with the term. Treasure hunters are often accused by archaeologists
of pillaging ancient sites in their quests, destroying valuable
information in the process.
Legally permitted shipwreck salvage under the
direction of qualified archaeologists and the subsequent sale of
artifacts and treasure by the salvors has been defended as ethical
by pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee
Spence. Spence argues that properly supervised treasure hunting
can be a way to fund archaeology and save shipwrecks before they
are destroyed by looters
and/or lost or destroyed through manmade or natural forces. Spence
casts the argument in terms of capitalism versus socialism in underwater
archaeology.
Illegal sales of antiquities
to foreign buyers are also attributed to illicit treasure
hunting.
References
See also
Famous "hidden treasures"
- See :Category:Treasure troves
- Captain Kidd
- Oak Island
- Treasure of the Knights Templar
- Rennes le Château
- Štěchovice Treasure of the Czech Republic
- Beale treasure
- RMS Republic
- Amber room
- Treasure of the Llanganatis
- Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine
- Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós
- Preslav treasure
- Treasure of the Changes Khan
- Treasure of the Lost City Drwarika - An Indian mythological city
- Treasure of the Alexandria
- Treasure of the Maya
Treasure in film and literature
- Nibelungenlied
- The treasure of Monte Cristo (1844)
- Treasure Island (1882)
- The Maltese Falcon (1930)
- Treasure Island (1934)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- The Treasure series (1958)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
- The Goonies (1985)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
- National Treasure (2004)
- National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
- One Piece
- ''Fool's Gold (film)
External links
- Ethics in Underwater Archaeology (Capitalism versus Socialism in Underwater Archaeology) by E. Lee Spence
- The Canadian Museum of Civilization - Treasures section
- Treasure Center Treasure and archaeological adventure site. Treasure and archaeological exhibits from around the world, lost treasures, treasure hunting tips, and the latest in fascinating treasure and archaeological news from around the world, updated daily.
- Treasure recoveries and sunken treasure
- Discovering history through archaeology and treasure hunting
- http://www.ScrollQuest.comArmchair treasure hunting and treasure lore site.
- International Treasure Hunting forum. Real people, real treasure
treasure in Bulgarian: Съкровище
treasure in Catalan: Tresor
treasure in German: Schatz
treasure in French: Trésor
treasure in Scottish Gaelic: Ionmhas
treasure in Bishnupriya: টেসৌরো
treasure in Italian: Tesoro
treasure in Lithuanian: Lobis
treasure in Japanese: 宝
treasure in Portuguese: Tesouro
treasure in Romanian: Tesouro
treasure in Russian: Клад
treasure in Finnish: Aarre
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Festschrift, Swiss bank
account, abundance,
accumulate, accumulation, admire, adore, affluence, amass, amassment, ana, anthology, appreciate, apprize, aquarium, ascribe importance
to, assets, backlog, balance, bank account, bear, bear in mind, boast, body, bosom, bottom dollar, bottomless
purse, brood over, budget, bulging purse, cache, cash, cash reserves, catch, checking account, cherish, chrestomathy, cling to,
clip, collect, collectanea, collection, command of money,
commissariat,
commissary, compilation, conserve, cornucopia, corpus, cumulate, cumulation, darling, data, dearly love, delight, diamond, dump, dwell on, dwell upon, easy
circumstances, embarras de richesses, embosom, embrace, entertain, esteem, exchequer, fan the embers,
finances, find, florilegium, fondle, fortune, foster, fund, funds, garner, garner up, gather into
barns, gem, godsend, gold, good thing, guard, handsome fortune, harbor, have, have and hold, have in mind,
heap, heap up, hide, high income, high tax
bracket, hoard, hoard up,
hold, hold dear, hold in
mind, hold on to, holdings, hug, ideal, idolize, independence, inventory, jewel, joy, keep, keep in memory, keep in mind,
keep in view, kitty,
larder, lay up, library, life savings, love to
distraction, lucre,
luxuriousness,
make much of, mammon,
mass, material, material wealth,
materials, materiel, means, menagerie, money, money to burn, moneybags, moneys, munitions, museum, nest egg, nurse, nurture, opulence, opulency, pearl, pecuniary resources,
pelf, pile, pile up, plenitude, plenty, plum, pocket, pool, possessions, preserve, pride, pride and joy, prize, property, prosperity, prosperousness, provisionment, provisions, purse, put up, rate highly,
rations, raw data,
regard, repertoire, repertory, reserves, resources, retain, revere, reverence, riches, richness, rick, save, save up, savings, savings account,
secrete, set store by,
six-figure income, squirrel, squirrel away,
stack, stock, stock up, stock-in-trade,
stockpile, store, store up, stores, substance, supplies, supply on hand, think
highly of, think much of, think well of, treasure trove, treasure
up, treasury, trophy, trouvaille, unregistered bank
account, upper bracket, valuables, value, venerate, wealth, wealthiness, wherewithal, windfall, winner, worship, zoo