King's Ransom Meaning

(idiomatic) A very large sum of money.

Example: 1825, Sir Walter Scott, The Talisman, ch. 12:
  "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, New York, page 46:
  â€œ […] 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, 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 (2010), ISBN 9781439145241, page 386:
  Except that Clarissa Astley would not have been decked out in a king's ransom of diamonds.