Careful Words

diamond (n.)

Diamond cut diamond.

John Ford (1586-1639): The Lover's Melancholy. Act i. Sc. 1.

With spots quadrangular of diamond form,

Ensanguined hearts, clubs typical of strife,

And spades, the emblems of untimely graves.

William Cowper (1731-1800): The Task. Book iv. The Winter Evening. Line 217.

  Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value.

Earl Of Chesterfield (1694-1773): Letter, July 1, 1748.

Diamond me no diamonds! prize me no prizes!

  Written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond.

Old Testament: Jeremiah xvii. 1.