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King's ransom   /kɪŋz rˈænsəm/   Listen
King's ransom

noun
1.
A very large treasure.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"King's ransom" Quotes from Famous Books



... and had evidently been dropped by the man to whom the secretary had given it to post. But what interested Jefferson more than anything else was that it was addressed to Miss Kate Roberts. Under ordinary circumstances, a king's ransom would not have tempted the young man to read a letter addressed to another, but he was convinced that his father's secretary was an adventurer and if he were carrying on an intrigue in this manner it could have only ...
— The Lion and The Mouse - A Story Of American Life • Charles Klein

... and a philosopher. We prefer to travel without an escort, and remember, you have seen nothing and heard nothing." He leaned from the saddle, and touched the officer on the breast. "That ring is worth a king's ransom." ...
— Soldiers of Fortune • Richard Harding Davis

... would just stand here and look at them with my large innocent eyes and my gentle smile, and I would say, 'Never, twins! Nurse has trusted him to me, and I have turned over a new leaf. I would not touch the rocks with my bare feet, not for a king's ransom.'" ...
— Troublesome Comforts - A Story for Children • Geraldine Glasgow

... Priors, Earls, Barons, and tenants-in-chief as chose to attend. At these meetings public business was done, charters were granted, and statutes were passed; assent was made to such feudal aids as money for the king's ransom in the case of William the Lion. In 1295 the seals of six Royal burghs are appended to the record of a negotiation; in 1326 burgesses, as we saw, were consulted by ...
— A Short History of Scotland • Andrew Lang

... go with Nora to the Bodleian, and sit patiently beside her while Nora copied Middle-English poetry from an early manuscript, worth a king's ransom. Nora got sevenpence a "folio," of seventy-two words, for her work. Connie thought the pay scandalous for so much learning; but Nora laughed at her, and took far more pleasure in the small cheque she received at the ...
— Lady Connie • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... the purchase of a king's Stradivarius for a king's ransom, and acclaimed by Sunday supplements to repose of nights ...
— Humoresque - A Laugh On Life With A Tear Behind It • Fannie Hurst

... two or three hundred pounds. Besides, better tables are indispensably necessary, tables on which the motions of the heavens are certified from the beginning to the end of the world without daily labour, but these tables are worth a king's ransom and could not be made without a vast expense. I have often attempted the composition of such tables, but could not finish them through failure of means and the folly of those whom I had to employ." Books were difficult and sometimes even impossible to procure. "The scientific works of Aristotle, ...
— History of the English People, Volume II (of 8) - The Charter, 1216-1307; The Parliament, 1307-1400 • John Richard Green

... love you!" she cried, a-thrill with disappointment to find him so unthriftily high-minded. "Yet you have done wrong, for Guienne is a king's ransom." ...
— Chivalry • James Branch Cabell

... plate was sold. The ornaments of the most holy relics were not spared. And, indeed, nothing serves more to demonstrate the poverty of the kingdom, reduced by internal dissensions and remote wars, at that time, than the extreme difficulty of collecting the king's ransom, which amounted to no more than one hundred thousand marks of silver, Cologne weight. For raising this sum, the first taxation, the most heavy and general that was ever known in England, proved altogether insufficient. Another taxation was set on foot. It was levied with the same rigor as the ...
— The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. VII. (of 12) • Edmund Burke

... not have sold that horse for a king's ransom,—an old Arab chief, with whom I formed a kind of friendship in the desert. A wound disabled him from riding, and he bestowed the horse on me, with as much solemn tenderness for the gift as if he had given me his daughter ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... the letter written by Sir John Penwick. Haste thee, mind!" He turned to the table as if the shadow of her being still rested there and spoke the continuation of his thought. "'Tis a bit of paper, Mistress Katherine, that has become of more worth than a king's ransom. The last will and testament of Sir John Penwick bequeathing to my father a priceless property,—Thou wert slow, Christopher, but I forgive thee." He tore the letter from the lackey's hands and ...
— Mistress Penwick • Dutton Payne

... book, and it be not a king's ransom, there is no sacrifice he will not make to obtain it. His modest glass of Burgundy he will cheerfully surrender, and if he ever travelled by any higher class, which is not likely, he will now go third, and his topcoat he will make to last another ...
— Books and Bookmen • Ian Maclaren

... hedges whirling past us in the darkness, always the same, like an enchanted drive; then the endless suburbs, and at last the streets where people lounged in corners and stopped the way, as if every second of time were not worth a king's ransom; and sedan-chairs trotted lightly home from gay parties as if life were not one long tragedy. Once the way was stopped, once we lost it. That mistake nearly killed me. At last a watchman helped us to the little by-street where Dr. Penn was lodging, near which a loud sound ...
— Miscellanea • Juliana Horatia Ewing

... sufficed for a king's ransom; the diamonds were of the first water; the rubies flashed crimson; delicate pearls gleamed palely upon their velvet beds; there were emeralds of priceless value. One of the most beautiful and costly jewels was an entire suite of opals ...
— Dora Thorne • Charlotte M. Braeme

... strode along in the direction of 'The Willows' to the accompaniment of a merry whistle. It did him good to get out into the open country once more, and he felt sure it would be worth a king's ransom to Dick; but when he came in sight of the house he hesitated. There must be some mistake. This was not the sort of house to open its doors to boarders. "Poor Dick!" he soliloquized, "no wonder you felt a premonitory ...
— A Beautiful Possibility • Edith Ferguson Black

... understood were true, a king's ransom was secreted within the cheap, imitation-leather satchel which served her for a pillow. But it availed her nothing for her comfort. If what he believed were true, she was absolute mistress of that treasure ...
— The Black Bag • Louis Joseph Vance

... know—some silly pearl necklace worth a king's ransom. She bought it in Paris—Miss Landis did; at least, so the report runs; and she doesn't deny it, as a matter of fact. Naturally that worries me; it's a rather tempting proposition to leave lying round a stateroom; and I asked her just now to let ...
— The Bandbox • Louis Joseph Vance

... would let us understand that he has settled with his creditors, the proverb is J'ai paye tous mes Anglois: "I have paid all my English." This proverb originated when John, the French king, was taken prisoner by our Black Prince. Levies of money were made for the king's ransom, and for many French lords; and the French people have thus perpetuated the military glory of our nation, and their own idea of it, by making the English and their creditors synonymous terms. Another relates to the same event—Le ...
— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Isaac D'Israeli



Words linked to "King's ransom" :   hoarded wealth, treasure



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