crown jewels
Britishplural noun
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A prized possession or asset, as in The Iliad and Odyssey are the crown jewels of ancient literature , or The software products are the company's crown jewels . This usage transfers the value of royal jewels to some other object. [Late 1800s]
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Also, family jewels . The male genitals, especially the testicles. For example, She gave the would-be mugger a hard kick in the family jewels . A slang euphemism, the term dates from the 1970s, and the variant from the early 1900s.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The director of the Louvre museum in Paris has resigned, months after the high-profile theft of France's crown jewels from one of the world's most visited art galleries.
From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026
Paramount is the only major studio to be physically located in Hollywood and its studio lot is one of the company’s crown jewels.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 27, 2026
The two Panama container terminals—Balboa on the Pacific coast and Cristóbal on the Atlantic side—were the crown jewels of the deal.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026
Just a few weeks ago, a U.S. hedge-fund manager known for playing the long game in Latin America won a protracted battle for one of Venezuela’s crown jewels.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 5, 2026
No, it would be like carrying the crown jewels through a mine field.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
