king's ransom

English

Etymology

From the exceptionally high ransom demanded for the return of a kidnapped or captured king.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

king's ransom (plural king's ransoms or kings' ransoms)

1. (idiomatic) A very large sum of money.
   • 1825, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 12, in The Talisman:

     "But to yonder pavilion . . . the moon is glimmering on the gilded ball which crowns its roof, and which is worth a king's ransom."

   • 1967 March 10, Archeology: An Ill-Starred Treasure Comes into Its Own (pictorial), LIFE, page 101:

     These gold, silver and pewter pieces are part of a king’s ransom of Spanish treasure salvaged from the sea off Florida where they had lain for 250 years.

   • 1986 March 24, Bernice Kanner, “The Real James Bond: Jim Lebenthal’s Tax-Bill Crusade”, in New York, page 46:

     “ […] This commercial message is sponsored by Lebenthal in the heartfelt belief that we’re not the only ones who are going to miss the bonds when they’re gone and it costs a king’s ransom to turn on the lights, boil water, or haul the garbage.”

   • 2005, Michael R. Matthews, Colin F. Gauld, Arthur Stinner, “The Pendulum: Its Place in Science, Culture and Pedagogy”, in Michael R. Matthews, Colin F. Gauld, Arthur Stinner, editors, The Pendulum: Scientific, Historical, Philosophical and Educational Perspectives, page 7:

     Solving longitude was one of the major preoccupations of European nations from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. King’s ransoms were offered for its solution.

   • 2010, Jane Feather, Rushed to the Altar, Pocket Books, published 2010, →ISBN, page 386:

     Except that Clarissa Astley would not have been decked out in a king's ransom of diamonds.

Synonyms

• fortune

Translations

very large sum of money

• Finnish: jättisumma
• Hungarian: borsos ár, vagyon (hu)
• Russian: большо́й куш m (bolʹšój kuš)
• Swedish: förmögenhet (sv) c, furstlig summa c

Further reading

• “king's ransom”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “a king’s ransom”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “a kings ransom”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “a king s ransom”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “a king s ransom” (US) / “a king s ransom” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.