the.com/crown jewels
The one asset you'd grab if the building were on fire — literal or anatomical.
means The most prized, carefully guarded possessions of a person, nation, or organization — the stuff you'd never let go of.
from Literally, the royal regalia — crowns, scepters, orbs — used in coronations and kept under heavy guard, most famously the UK's set in the Tower of London. The phrase jumped from palace vaults into everyday speech as a way to mark whatever's most valuable and protected, and picked up a cheeky slang life as a euphemism for male genitals, playing on 'treasure you guard closely.'
- literal origin
- British coronation regalia, worth billions, technically uninsurable
- business slang
- a company's most valuable, often most defended, division
- euphemism duty
- also moonlights as a polite term for testicles
- takeover defense
- selling them to repel hostile bidders is literally called that