[Pers. kōh-i nūr mountain (kōh) of light (nūr).] An Indian diamond, famous for its size and history, which became one of the British Crown jewels on the annexation of the Punjaub in 1849; hence, allusively, any magnificent large diamond; fig. something that is the most precious or most superb of its kind.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, lxvi. Miss Laura Bell … had such a sparkling and brilliant koh-i-noor in her bosom, as is even more precious than that famous jewel.
1863. A. B. Grosart, Small Sins (ed. 2), 34. The tiniest flaw or fracture in a diamond vitiates the whole gem—be it a very Koh-i-noor.
1892. [Lady Currie], in 19th Cent., Feb., 213. It is to be wondered at, then, if the great kohinoor of reciprocated affection should only glisten upon the brows of the elect?
1897. Westm. Gaz., 23 June, 2/3. A scene at once so varied, so magnificent…. It is, verily, the Koh-i-Noor of spectacles.
