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  1. bijou love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A small, exquisitely wrought trinket.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. . A jewel; specifically, a jewel of gold richly wrought in the metal itself without the aid of precious stones. See bijouterie.
  2. n. Hence2. An object of beauty of small size; something delicately pretty; any relatively small charming object.

Wiktionary

  1. n. jewel
  2. n. a piece of jewelry, a trinket
  3. n. a small intricately made metalworking
  4. adj. of a residence small and elegant
  5. adj. intricate; finely made

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A trinket; a jewel; -- a word applied to anything small and of elegant workmanship.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a small and delicately worked piece

Etymologies

  1. From French bijou (Wiktionary)
  2. French, from Breton bizou, jeweled ring, from biz, finger. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “(My Petit Robert on CD-ROM allows searches by all entry fields by which I think I discovered that "bijou" is from Breton.)”

    detente - French Word-A-Day

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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.”

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories

  • “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.”

    Life and style | guardian.co.uk

  • “My cottage is what estate agents used to call 'bijou'.”

    Kitchen Confidential

  • “It is now wall to wall marina with one 'bijou' corner' being reserved for the new BBC premises pete”

    ALL AT SEA..

  • “My Petit Robert on CD-ROM allows searches by all entry fields by which I think I discovered that "bijou" is from Breton.”

    detente - French Word-A-Day

  • “From this kind of bijou made with human hair, to these chocolate nipples to these intra-toe candies that your lover is supposed to suck from your toes.”

    TED: Paola Antonelli treats design as art

  • “The cottage was tiny -- "bijou," the estate agents would probably have called it -- and there was an ever-present danger of tumbling over the furniture.”

    Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘bijou’.

Comments

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  • aequoria 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. Dec 7, 2008

  • she Also French, 'jewel' Jul 15, 2008

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‘bijou’ has been looked up 3469 times, loved by 4 people, added to 25 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 14.