prize

From Middle English prise, from Old French prise (“a taking, capture, a seizure, a thing seized, a prize, booty, also hold, purchase”), past participle of prendre (“to take, to capture”), from Latin prēndere (“to take, seize”); see prehend. Compare prison, apprise, comprise, enterprise, purprise, reprisal, surprise, etc. Doublet of prise.

• IPA^(key): /pɹaɪz/

• Audio (US):

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  • Rhymes: -aɪz
• Homophones: pries, prise

prize (plural prizes)

1. That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 54:

     […] wherefore he now begunne
     To challenge her anew, as his owne prize,
     Whom formerly he had in battell wonne,

2. (military, nautical) Anything captured by a belligerent using the rights of war; especially, property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel.
   • 1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain Avery, and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 51:

     Having taken all the Treasure on Board their own Ships, and plundered their Prize of every Thing elſe they either wanted or liked, they let her go; ſhe not being able to continue her Voyage, returned back: […]

3. An honour or reward striven for in a competitive contest; anything offered to be competed for, or as an inducement to, or reward of, effort.
   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, Act I, page 5:

     I fought and conquer’d, yet have lost the prize.

4. That which may be won by chance, as in a lottery.
   • 1928, Weston Jarvis, Jottings from an Active Life‎^[1], London: Heath Cranton, page 256:

     Cecil Rhodes […] was never tired of impressing upon one that the fact of being an Englishman was “the greatest prize in the lottery of life,” and that it was that thought which always sustained him when he was troubled.

5. Anything worth striving for; a valuable possession held or in prospect.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 3:14:

     I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

6. (obsolete) A contest for a reward; competition.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Like one of two contending in a prize,
     That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes […]

7. A lever; a pry; also, the hold of a lever.

   Synonym: prise

Do not confuse with price.

From Middle English prysen, borrowed from Old French priser (“to set a price or value on, esteem, value”), from pris (“price”), from Latin pretium (“price, value”), whence price; see also praise, a doublet. Compare appraise, apprize.

prize (third-person singular simple present prizes, present participle prizing, simple past and past participle prized)

1. To consider highly valuable; to esteem.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     […] I
     Beyond all limit of what else i’ the world
     Do love, prize, honour you.

   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, Act V, page 83:

     I pris’d your Person, but your Crown disdain.

   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 20, in The Childhood of Jesus‎^[2], London: Harvill Secker, page 167:

     ‘ […] An old broken cup has no value. No one prizes it.’
     ‘I prize it. It’s my museum, not yours.’

2. (obsolete) To set or estimate the value of; to appraise; to price; to rate.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     […] no life,
     I prize it not a straw, but for mine honour,

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Zechariah 11:13:

     […] a goodly price that I was prized at.

3. To move with a lever; to force up or open; to prise or pry.
   • 2021, Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun, Faber & Faber Limited, page 298:

     ‘Find some other black boxes to prize open.’

4. (obsolete) To compete in a prizefight.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

prize (not comparable)

1. Having won a prize; award-winning.

   a prize vegetable

2. First-rate; exceptional.

   He was a prize fool.

Alternative forms.

prize (plural prizes)

1. Obsolete form of price. [16th–19th c.]
   • 1777, Joshua Reynolds, edited by John Ingamells and John Edgcumbe, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale, published 2000, page 69:

     My prizes – for a head is thirty five Guineas – As far as the Knees seventy – and for a whole-length one hundred and fifty.

• “prize”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “prize”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• pizer, rezip