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Phrase(s): *a king’s ransom
Fig. a great deal of money. (To pay an amount as large as one might have to pay to get back a king held for ransom. *Typically: cost ~; pay ~; spend ~.) • I would like to buy a nice watch, but I don’t want to pay a king’s ransom for it. • It’s a lovely house. I bet it cost a king’s ransom.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
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A huge sum of money, as in That handmade rug must have cost a king's ransom. This metaphoric expression originally referred to the sum required to release a king from captivity. [Late 1400s]
American Heritage Idioms