The phrase "hold it dear" is correct and usable in written English.
It is an idiom that is used to express the idea of cherishing something or someone. For example: My grandmother's old wedding dress holds a special place in my heart, and I hold it dear.
Assuming you even call it a game, as like that album you'll never tire of listening to, it transcends its medium to mean so much more to those who hold it dear.
People love football and they hold it dear, and that's why, in spite of lots of carping and moaning, we spend so much money and time on it.
It has been cultivated in the UK since the 1960s and those of us who grow it here hold it dear.
If they care about it and I get asked about it a lot, it means that people hold it dear to their hearts and it's doing what it meant to.
There is a certain truth in that, though you would only hold it dear if you were the kind of misguided professional athlete who thinks he is entitled to enjoy all the benefits of wealth and fame without having to shoulder the responsibilities.
As Henry Sherrell, a research officer at Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University, has pointed out, Dutton's position is in sharp contrast to that of Malcolm Turnbull, who just last year said "multicultural Australia is a remarkable achievement and we should treasure it and hold it dear".
The Metropolitan Opera is not alone in holding it dear: Theater-goers, too, are often put off by tasteless re-stagings of classics.
It's from a bygone era when Eddie Murphy was still making funny films, so I hold it very dear to my heart.
Hold it near and dear, nurture it, listen to it, let it guide you.
I still remember being read the story by my mother and father, who grew up in the late '20s and '30s and held it so dear for so long that they bought a copy for my first son when he was a child, 20-some years ago.
But the price of holding it proved dear, while efforts to build a local Afghan government to replace them failed.
