[f. TREASURE sb. In Wyclif rendering thēsaurizāre of the Vulgate.]
1. trans. To put away or lay aside (anything of value) for preservation, security, or future use; to hoard or store up. Often to treasure up.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxxix. 6. Alle thingus … that ben in thin hous, and that thi fadris han tresored. Ibid., Baruch iii. 16. Wher ben the princes … that siluer tresoren and gold?
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, V. 114. Some thought it mounted to the Lunar sphere, Since all things lost on earth are treasured there.
1769. Cook, Voy. round World, II. i. (1773), 281. Taking a Cheshire cheese from a locker, where it had been carefully treasured up for this occasion.
1821. Shelley, Ginevra, 131. As if the future and the past were all Treasured i’ the instant.
† b. absol. To lay up treasure. (A literalism of translation.) Obs. rare.
1382. Wyclif, Ecclus. iii. 5. As he that tresoreth, so and he that wrshepith his moder.
2. fig. To keep in store, lay up (e.g., in the mind, in memory).
1382. Wyclif, Jas. v. 3. Ȝe han tressourid to ȝou wrath in the laste dayes.
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 6. The whyche … tresur to hem … the wrathe of owre sauyur ihesu cryste.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, II. § 12. 148. God doth sometimes treasure up the sinnes of predecessours.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. xvi. § 3. To acquire and treasure up a large store of ideas and notions.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, V. xi. The ladies would treasure their energies for the impending ball.
1887. Bowen, Æneid, III. 436. [I] Bid thee again and again in thy memory treasure the theme.
† 3. To furnish or endow with treasures; to supply with treasure, to enrich. Obs. rare.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., vi. Treasure thou some place, With beauties treasure.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Mem. Monarchs, II. Wks. II. 287/1. By a heauy taxe the King was treasur’d.
4. To hold or keep as precious; to cherish, prize.
1907. Verney Mem., II. 403. Treasured as his most precious possessions.
1911. J. A. Macculloch, Relig. Anc. Celts, xiv. 221. A feather was left at each house and carefully treasured.
Hence Treasured ppl. a., stored, hoarded up, highly valued; Treasuring vbl. sb.
1602. Archpriest Controv. (Camden), I. 232. Every baker or brewer, for stewarding and treasuringe, must, by this newe device, be made equall with you.
1675. Brooks, Gold. Key, Wks. 1867, V. 136. Wrath to come is treasured-up wrath.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, VI. 359. The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went, Where treasur’d odours breath’d a costly scent.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxxi. 434. To give him a grating of our treasured potatoes.
