pricelessadj.

1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. B1^v What priselesse wealth the heauens had him lent, In the possession of his beauteous mate. View more context for this quotation

1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse 13 Crasie barkes,..ballist with prizelesse marchandise.

1621 J. Fletcher et al. Trag. of Thierry & Theodoret ii. i. sig. C2 His ignorance of the prizelesse Iewell.

1735 J. Thomson Greece: 2nd Pt. Liberty 227 Tutor of Athens! he in ev'ry street Dealt priceless treasure.

1755 J. Hervey Theron & Aspasio III. vii. 48 Such priceless treasures of Wisdom and Beneficence flowed from his Tongue, and were poured from his Hands!

1865 J. Bright Speeches Amer. Question 138 That priceless possession which we have perhaps more clearly established..that of personal freedom.

1884 Fortn. Rev. Jan. 34 Those gifts that cannot be purchased with money, that are priceless.

1888 Lady 25 Oct. 374/2 These [stencil-plates]..are priceless, not to be bought in common shops.

1955 J. P. Donleavy Ginger Man xxix. 324 And last week I went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square where they say these pictures are priceless.

1988 High Life (Brit. Airways) Apr. 55/1 If the gold..and other priceless objects lying deep down..are ever raised to the surface, will they be the property..of the salvage team?

2005 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 27 Nov. That photo, and the copies of the newspapers from April 20, 1970, are now among my most treasured and priceless possessions.

1614 R. Brathwait Schollers Medley 21 So oftentimes they [sc. books] play the Vipers with vs, they murder vs in our name & reputation, much disparraging their parents, being priselesse and therefore vnfit for presse.

1771 ‘The Trifler’ Muse in Miniature 60 Beauty that prizeless pageant of a day.

1847 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Priceless... 2. Without value; worthless or unsalable. J. Barlow.]

1907 Punch 23 Jan. 59 Lady Bountiful: Oh, dear Miss Smith, do send me some of your priceless little sketches for my rummage sale on the 26th.

1914 D. O. Barnett Let. 19 Nov. in In Happy Memory (1915) 11 There was a priceless ‘drunk’ here the other day when I was on guard... He made the most magnificent remarks en route and so did the chaps who were carrying him.

1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah ii. 87 What a priceless humbug old Lubin is!

1924 D. Moore Fen's First Term xii. 127 She had been a ‘priceless idiot’.

a1958 G. Willans Back in Jug Agane (1959) i. 7 Wot wizard japes and priceless pranks will they get up to?

1978 S. Naipaul North of South i. i. 29 The European..burst out laughing... ‘Can you imagine how they must have..rolled their eyes? Absolutely priceless.’

1991 Independent 16 Dec. 11/1 In old age, often as widows, these long-suffering women emerge on to a glorious plateau of independence and freedom... They are priceless characters.

1832 T. Carlyle in Foreign Quart. Rev. 10 34 Poetry (..the highest talent, and sometimes pricelessly high).

1870 W. Aikman Life at Home 83 You may not be able to provide magnificent gifts, jewels and brocades, but you will give what is pricelessly beyond them.

1934 G. B. Shaw On the Rocks (new ed.) i, in Too True to be Good 222 What makes your diagnosis so pricelessly funny to me is that as a matter of fact my life has been a completely intellectual life, and my training the finest intellectual training in the world.

1992 Spectator 19 Dec. 92/1 He has done two pricelessly awful scores in recent memory.

1834 E. S. Wortley London at Night 84 On thee their uttermost pricelessness of worth, Beyond all else to be desired on earth!

1883 Cent. Mag. 26 804 The pricelessness of water in a land where no rain falls during six months.

1906 Mind 15 370 I never tired of bringing before the boys the twenty-eighth chapter of Job, on the pricelessness of wisdom.

1997 Amer. Lit. Hist. 9 713 The falcon's very pricelessness suggests that its value, if realized, would transcend the logic of exchange.