Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To treat with affection and tenderness; hold dear.
  • transitive verb To keep fondly in mind; treasure: synonym: appreciate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To hold as dear; treat with tenderness and affection; foster; nurture; support and encourage; shelter fondly; nurse; caress.
  • To indulge and encourage in the mind; harbor; cling to: as, to cherish forgiveness; to cherish revenge.
  • To give physical comfort or pleasure to; invigorate; strengthen; warm; hence, to provide for; entertain hospitably.
  • Synonyms Foster, Cherish, Harbor. “To foster is to sustain and nourish with care and effort. To cherish is to hold and treat as dear. To harbor is to provide with shelter and protection, so as to give opportunity for working to something that might be and often ought to be excluded.”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To treat with tenderness and affection; to nurture with care; to protect and aid.
  • transitive verb To hold dear; to embrace with interest; to indulge; to encourage; to foster; to promote.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To treat with tenderness and affection; to nurture with care; to protect and aid.
  • verb To hold dear; to embrace with interest; to indulge; to encourage; to foster; to promote; as, to cherish religious principle.
  • verb obsolete To cheer, gladden.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be fond of; be attached to

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English cherishen, from Old French cherir, cheriss-, from cher, dear, from Latin cārus; see kā- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French cherir.

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