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1624, Democritus Junior , “Iealousie, His Equivocations, Name, Definition, Extent, Seuerall Kindes, of Princes, Parents, Friends. In Beasts, Men, before Marriage, as Corriuals, or after, as in this Place”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy:, 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 3, member 1, subsection 1, pages 465–466:
Petronius calleth this paſſion amantium furioſam æmulationem, a furious emulation, and their ſymptomes are well expreſſed by SrIeffrey Chaucer in his firſt Canterbury tale. It will make the neareſt & deareſt friends fall out; they will endure al other things to be common, goods, lands, moneyes, participate of all other pleaſures, and take in good part any diſgraces, iniuries in another kind, but as Propertius well deſcribes it in an Elegie of his, in this they will ſuffer nothing, have no corriuals.
It was impoſſible that the queen of France ſhould not be deeply affected by a conteſt, which ſo cloſely involved her neareſt and deareſt connections, and threatened ſo immediate and perhaps irreparable a breach of the harmony and friendſhip ſubſiſting between them.
1915 April, Annie Besant, “The Servants of India Society”, in Speeches & Writings of Annie Besant, 3rd edition, Madras: G. A. Natesan & Co., published September 1921, →OCLC, page 281:
In the work that it will do in the future it will be the spirit of Mr. Gokhale that will inspire it. So I would remind you that while you raise a statue to his public honour, do not forget what matters more, the hope that ever nestled warmly in his heart, that is nearest and dearest to those who imitate him, throwing away everything of this world and burning upon the altar of their country in sacrifice all that the world could give of joy and wealth,
hile all mourned and honoured the dead, thou hast lived to merit our hate and execration—lived to unite thyself with the vile tyrant who murdered thy nearest and dearest—
Several days passed by, and to all appearance we had quite forgotten our poor old servitor, – so heartless in remembrance is weak humanity to its nearest and dearest, – when, in course of time, it got to be New Year's eve, and we were sitting in our study, awaiting the cook's preparations for dinner, when suddenly we heard a noise as of much tramping.
2014, Helene S. Lundberg, “Preface”, in Scandinavian Christmas Crafts and Recipes, Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, →ISBN, page 5:
Christmas is the time to nurture friendships and spend as much time as possible with your nearest and dearest.
2014, Alan Reid, interviewed by Fiona Ritchie, “Homesick Pioneers”, in Fiona Ritchie, Doug Orr, with the assistance of Darcy Orr, Wayfaring Stangers: The Musical Journey from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 149:
I think the immigrant, as a rule, clings more to the homeland and to culture and music than the person who's surrounded by it all the time. That would often be the last sight of their homeland, it would be the last sight of their nearest and dearest, and yet, over and above that, they still felt the need to go and try and get a better life, whether it was voluntary and whether they were thrown off their lands or whatever.
Translations
one's closest and most intimate family members, friends, etc.
