The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Prize \Prize\, v. t.
   To move with a lever; to force up or open; to pry. [Written
   also prise.]
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Prize \Prize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prized; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Prizing.] [F. priser, OF. prisier, preisier, fr. L.
   pretiare, fr. pretium worth, value, price. See Price, and
   cf. Praise.] [Formerly written also prise. ]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To set or estimate the value of; to appraise; to price; to
      rate.
      [1913 Webster]

            A goodly price that I was prized at.  --Zech. xi.
                                                  13.
      [1913 Webster]

            I prize it [life] not a straw, but for mine honor.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To value highly; to estimate to be of great worth; to
      esteem. "[I] do love, prize, honor you. " --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            I prized your person, but your crown disdain.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Prize \Prize\ (pr[imac]z), n. [F. prise a seizing, hold, grasp,
   fr. pris, p. p. of prendre to take, L. prendere, prehendere;
   in some senses, as 2
   (b), either from, or influenced by, F. prix price. See
       Prison, Prehensile, and cf. Pry, and also Price.]
       [1913 Webster]

   1. That which is taken from another; something captured; a
      thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power.
      [1913 Webster]

            I will depart my pris, or my prey, by deliberation.
                                                  --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            His own prize,
            Whom formerly he had in battle won.   --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence, specifically;
      (a) (Law) Anything captured by a belligerent using the
          rights of war; esp., property captured at sea in
          virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel. --Kent.
          --Brande & C.
      (b) An honor or reward striven for in a competitive
          contest; anything offered to be competed for, or as an
          inducement to, or reward of, effort.
          [1913 Webster]

                I'll never wrestle for prize more. --Shak.
          [1913 Webster]

                I fought and conquered, yet have lost the prize.
                                                  --Dryden.
          [1913 Webster]
      (c) That which may be won by chance, as in a lottery.
          [1913 Webster]

   3. Anything worth striving for; a valuable possession held or
      in prospect.
      [1913 Webster]

            I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
            calling of God in Christ Jesus.       --Phil. iii.
                                                  14.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A contest for a reward; competition. [Obs.] --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. A lever; a pry; also, the hold of a lever. [Written also
      prise.]
      [1913 Webster]

   Prize court, a court having jurisdiction of all captures
      made in war on the high seas. --Bouvier.

   Prize fight, an exhibition contest, esp. one of pugilists,
      for a stake or wager.

   Prize fighter, one who fights publicly for a reward; --
      applied esp. to a professional boxer or pugilist. --Pope.

   Prize fighting, fighting, especially boxing, in public for
      a reward or wager.

   Prize master, an officer put in charge or command of a
      captured vessel.

   Prize medal, a medal given as a prize.

   Prize money, a dividend from the proceeds of a captured
      vessel, etc., paid to the captors.

   Prize ring, the ring or inclosure for a prize fight; the
      system and practice of prize fighting.

   To make prize of, to capture. --Hawthorne.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Prize \Prize\, n. [F. prix price. See 3d Prize. ]
   Estimation; valuation. [Obs.] --Shak.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

prize
    adj 1: of superior grade; "choice wines"; "prime beef"; "prize
           carnations"; "quality paper"; "select peaches" [syn:
           choice, prime(a), prize, quality, select]
    n 1: something given for victory or superiority in a contest or
         competition or for winning a lottery; "the prize was a free
         trip to Europe" [syn: prize, award]
    2: goods or money obtained illegally [syn: loot, booty,
       pillage, plunder, prize, swag, dirty money]
    3: something given as a token of victory [syn: trophy,
       prize]
    v 1: hold dear; "I prize these old photographs" [syn: prize,
         value, treasure, appreciate]
    2: to move or force, especially in an effort to get something
       open; "The burglar jimmied the lock": "Raccoons managed to
       pry the lid off the garbage pail" [syn: pry, prise,
       prize, lever, jimmy]
    3: regard highly; think much of; "I respect his judgement"; "We
       prize his creativity" [syn: respect, esteem, value,
       prize, prise] [ant: disesteem, disrespect]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

286 Moby Thesaurus words for "prize":
   Academy Award, Nobel Prize, Oscar, accolade, accord respect to,
   admire, adore, aim, ambition, apotheosize, appraise, appreciate,
   apprize, arch, ascribe importance to, assay, assess, award, bar,
   barrow, beam, best, blackmail, boast, booby prize, boodle, boom,
   booty, boundary stone, brass, bust, cairn, calculate, calibrate,
   caliper, call, cant hook, carrot, catch, cenotaph, champion,
   check a parameter, cherish, choice, chosen, class, claw bar,
   column, compute, consolation prize, crank, cream, cromlech, cross,
   crow, crowbar, cup, cyclolith, dearest wish, dearly love, defer to,
   deify, desideration, desideratum, desire, dial, diamond, divide,
   dividend, dolmen, elect, elite, entertain respect for, esteem,
   estimate, evaluate, exalt, excellent, fair-trade, fat, fathom,
   favor, figure, find, first prize, first-rate, flower, footstone,
   for the best, forbidden fruit, form an estimate, fulcrumage, gain,
   gauge, gem, get a foothold, get leverage, give an appreciation,
   glimmering goal, goal, godsend, golden vision, good thing,
   graduate, graft, grave, gravestone, greatest, guerdon, guess,
   handpicked, handspike, haul, headstone, hero-worship, hoarstone,
   hold dear, hold in esteem, hold in reverence, honor, hope,
   hot goods, idolize, inscription, iron crow, jackpot, jewel, jimmy,
   lever, leverage, limb, lodestone, look up to, loot,
   love to distraction, magnet, make an estimation, make much of,
   mark, marker, marlinespike, matchless, mausoleum, measure, meed,
   megalith, memento, memorial, memorial arch, memorial column,
   memorial statue, memorial stone, menhir, mensurate, mete, meter,
   monolith, monument, mound, necrology, nonesuch, nonpareil, obelisk,
   obituary, optimal, optimum, outrigger, outstanding, pace, paragon,
   paramount, pearl, peavey, pedal, peerless, perks, perquisite, pick,
   picked, pickings, pillar, pinch bar, plaque, plum, plumb, plunder,
   pork barrel, premium, price, pride, pride and joy, prime, probe,
   pry, public till, public trough, purse, pyramid, quantify,
   quantize, queen, quintessence, quintessential, quote a price, rank,
   rate, rate highly, receipts, reckon, regard, reliquary,
   remembrance, respect, revere, reverence, reward, ribbon,
   ripping bar, rostral column, second prize, select, set store by,
   shaft, shrine, size, size up, sound, span, spar, spoil, spoils,
   spoils of office, squeeze, stakes, stealings, stela, step,
   stolen goods, stone, stupa, superior, superlative, supreme,
   surpassing, survey, swag, sweepstakes, tablet, take,
   take a reading, temptation, testimonial, the best, the best ever,
   the tops, the very best, think highly of, think much of,
   think well of, till, tomb, tombstone, top, tope, treadle, treasure,
   triangulate, trophy, trouvaille, unmatchable, unmatched,
   unparalleled, unsurpassed, valorize, valuate, value, venerate,
   very best, wedge, weigh, windfall, winner, winnings, wish, worship,
   wrecking bar



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

PRIZE, contracts. A reward which is offered to one of several persons who
shall accomplish a certain condition; as, if an editor should offer a silver
cup to the individual who shall write the best essay in favor of peace.
     2. In this case there is a contract subsisting between the editor and
each person who may write such essay that he will pay the prize to the
writer of the best essay. Wolff, Dr. de la Nat. Sec. 675.
     3. By prize is also meant a thing which is won by putting into a
lottery.



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

PRIZE, mar. law, war. The apprehension and detention at sea, of a ship or
other vessel, by authority of a belligerent power, either with the design of
appropriating it, with the goods and effects it contains, or with that of
becoming master of the whole or a part of its cargo. 1 Rob. Adm. R. 228. The
vessel or goods thus taken are also called a prize. Goods taken on land from
a public enemy, are called booty, (q.v.) and the distinction between a prize
and booty consists in this, that the former is taken at sea and the latter
on laud.
     2. In order to vest the title of the prize in the captors, it must be
brought with due care into some convenient port for adjudication by a
competent court. The condemnation must be pronounced by a prize court of the
government of the captor sitting in the country of the captor, or his ally;
the prize court of an ally cannot condemn. Strictly speaking, as between the
belligerent parties the title passes, and is vested when the capture is
complete; and that was formerly held to be complete and perfect when the
battle was over, and the spes recuperandi was gone. 1 Kent, Com. 100; Abbott
on Ship. Index, h.t.; 13 Vin. Ab. 51; 8 Com. Dig. 885; 2 Bro. Civ. Law, 444;
Harr. Dig. Ship. and Shipping, X; Merl. Repert. h.t.; Bouv. Inst. Index.
h.t. Vide Infra praesidia.