different between contraband vs prize

English

Etymology

From Spanish contrabanda (modern spelling contrabando), from Italian contrabando (modern spelling contrabbando), from contra (“against”) + bando (“ban”), and reinforced by French contrebande.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?n.t???bænd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?n.t???bænd/
• Rhymes: -ænd

Noun

contraband (usually uncountable, plural contrabands)

1. (uncountable) any goods which are illicit or illegal to possess
2. (uncountable) goods which are prohibited from being traded, smuggled goods
3. (countable, US, historical) A black slave during the American Civil War who had escaped to, or been captured by, Union forces.
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2003, p. 497:

     While some Yanks treated contrabands with a degree of equity or benevolence, the more typical response was indifference, contempt, or cruelty.

Translations

Adjective

contraband (comparative more contraband, superlative most contraband)

1. prohibited from being traded
   • 1940 – The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America: Having ... – Division of the Federal Register, the National Archives – Page 2191

     "[...] when the seizure is made in connection with a violation involving a contraband article covered by section 1 (b) (1) of the said Act; [...]"

   • 1953 – United States, United States. President, United States. Congress – United States Code Congressional and Administrative News – Page 2039

     "The exclusion of mandatory payment of moieties for seizures of contraband controlled substances is accomplished through Section 17 of the bill, [...]"

   • 1899 – Albert William Chaster – The Powers, Duties and Liabilities of Executive Officers as Between These ... – Stevens and Haynes – Page 55

     "4. Contraband goods may be seized if found in a river before they are landed or offered for sale."

Verb

contraband (third-person singular simple present contrabands, present participle contrabanding, simple past and past participle contrabanded)

1. (obsolete) To import illegally; to smuggle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

2. (obsolete) To declare prohibited; to forbid.
   • Hudibras

     The law severely contrabands / Our taking business off men's hands.

Translations

English

Etymology 1

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 prendere (“to take, seize”); see prehend. Compare prison, apprise, comprise, enterprise, purprise, reprisal, surprise, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?a?z/
• • Rhymes: -a?z
• Homophones: pries, prise

Noun

prize (plural prizes)

1. That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 4, Canto 4, p. 54,^[1]

     […] 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.
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.
   • 1676, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, London: Henry Herringman, Act 5, p. 73,^[2]

     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, London: Heath Cranton, p. 256,^[3]

     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, King James Version of the Bible, Philippians 3.14,^[4]

     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, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene 2,^[5]

     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

Usage notes

Do not confuse with price.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• prise
• price

Etymology 2

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.

Verb

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

1. To consider highly valuable; to esteem.
   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III, Scene 1,^[6]

     […] I

     Beyond all limit of what else i’ the world

     Do love, prize, honour you.

   • 1676, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe, London: Henry Herringman, Act V, p. 83,^[7]

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

   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus, London: Harvill Secker, Chapter 20, p. 167,^[8]

     ‘ […] 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, William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act III, Scene 2,^[9]

     […] no life,

     I prize it not a straw, but for mine honour,

   • 1611 King James Version of the Bible, Zechariah 11.13,^[10]

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

3. To move with a lever; to force up or open; to prise or pry.
4. (obsolete) To compete in a prizefight.

Derived terms

• foreprize
• outprize
• overprize
• prizable
• prizer
• underprize
• unprizable
• unprized

Translations

Etymology 3

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

Adjective

prize (not comparable)

1. Having won a prize; award-winning.

   a prize vegetable

2. first-rate; exceptional

   He was a prize fool.

Etymology 4

Alternative forms.

Noun

prize (plural prizes)

1. Obsolete form of price. [16th–19th c.]
   • 1777, Joshua Reynolds, in John Ingamells, John Edgcumbe (eds.), The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale 2000, p. 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.

Further reading

• prize in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• prize in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• pizer, rezip