Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To stop and rob (a vehicle in transit).
- v. To steal (goods) from a vehicle in transit.
- v. To seize control of (a moving vehicle) by use of force, especially in order to reach an alternate destination.
- v. To steal from as if by hijacking.
- v. To swindle or subject to extortion.
- n. The act or an instance of hijacking.
Wiktionary
- v. To forcibly stop and seize control of some vehicle in order to rob it or to reach a destination (especially an airplane, truck or a boat).
- v. To seize control of some process or resource to achieve a purpose other than its originally intended one.
- v. computing To seize control of a networked computer by means of infecting it with a worm or other malware, thereby turning it into a zombie.
- v. computing To change software settings without a user's knowledge so as to force that user to visit a certain web site (to hijack a browser).
- v. politics To introduce an amendment deleting the contents of a bill and inserting entirely new provisions.
- n. An instance of hijacking; the illegal seizure of a vehicle.
- n. An instance of a seizure and redirection of a process.
- n. politics An amendment which deletes the contents of a bill and inserts entirely new provisions.
WordNet 3.0
- v. seize control of
- v. take arbitrarily or by force
- n. seizure of a vehicle in transit either to rob it or divert it to an alternate destination
Etymologies
- Blend of highway and jacker ("one who holds up") (Wiktionary)
- Probably back-formation from highjacker, perhaps from jacker, holdup man, from jack, to jacklight. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“As e-mail tipster Lee Boggs wrote NewsBusters, "Although the word 'hijack' doesn't appear in the story, the headline writers must have felt it necessary to give it a negative slant on their homepage link, so they used the word hijack, which is normally reserved for terrorists and thugs who steal planes and cars.”
“Overall sound seems better – perhaps the mpeg encoding settings in hijack are better than audacity.”
“UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think the word hijack was ever used.”
“Hostage captain rescued with three pirates shot dead in Somali hijack drama”
“Nessip is convinced that the hijack was a setup, but the authorities are too busy blaming him for losing Leedy to listen to his theories, and Nessip is suspended.”
“The hijack was the biggest ever act of piracy in the perilous shipping lanes off the east coast of Africa.”
“The hijack is the latest in a string of pirate attacks off the Somali coast in recent months.”
“• Please don't "hijack" comment threads to controversial topics.”
“Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) also complained that the effort to garner key votes had allowed a handful of senators to "hijack" the process over a few parochial issues.”
The Washington Post: House-Senate panel works to move financial regulation bill to Obama
“Last week, Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal, was quoted as saying that Maliki was trying to "hijack" the elections and "deny the people their legitimately elected government.”
The Washington Post: Iraqi prime minister Maliki warns against rushing to form new government
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hijack’.
-
Headlines & Newsmakers
frugality, environment, extinction, bible, killer, jazz, cloning, dead, god, moon, global warming, bailout and 340 more...
-
pretty dots all in a row
polka dotted words
hijack, jinx, jingle, beijing, jive, jilted, jittery, jill, hijab, haji, hajj, hijinks and 149 more...
-
POL - legislation
US Congress/Senate + Westminster + European Parliament usage
across the desk, act, action, adjournment, adjournment sine die, adoption, advise and consent, amendment, analysis of the b..., apportionment, appropriation, appropriations limit and 652 more...
-
Thievery
synonymous with steal.
pinch, lift, pilfer, appropriate, bilk, abscond, burgle, usurp, purloin, shoplift, bite, five finger discount and 38 more...
-
Hi, you!
Words that sound like you're saying hi to a person.
hijack, hygiene, heighdy, hi-fi, hijinks, hiyacinth, hymen, highway, hiyalin, highfalutin, highbrow, hilo and 37 more...
-
My list
My first list
-
vinyl's Words
deliverator, finna, metric fuckton, fag, hyphy, ginormous, sacrilicious, fantabulous, macaca, n-word, pterodactyl, genious and 560 more...
-
2012-11-16
hassle, carry-on, aerosol, gel, bombard, hijack, lamb, slaughter
-
All Those Jazz Words
Words coined or popularized during the Roaring '20s.
back-seat driver, jalopy, step on it, cop a plea, fuzz, gimmick, hijack, speakeasy, to take (someone)..., cockeyed, scofflaw, shellacked and 74 more...
-
my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
-
verbs
individualize, eroticize, propense, instantiate, minify, spritzes, somersault, graffitied, fabulize, genuflect, traipse, concatenate and 26 more...
-
II
drowsy, formulaic, intermittent, scurry, abase, unwind, confide, forensic, prolific, rummage, aplomb, subtlety and 26 more...
-
Action Verbs
snatch, skitter, skewer, splay, retch, scamper, scurry, amble, amble, bound, canter, dart and 63 more...
-
The Roaring Twenties
A selection of words and phrases that entered the language between 1920 and 1929. Primary sources for this list are:
There's a Word For It by Sol Steinmetz (2010, Harmony Books, New Y...nobrow, booboisie, robot, It girl, scofflaw, Babbitt, bozo, feedback, icky, daiquiri, subprime, T-shirt and 27 more...
-
strange j's
j is a funny letter, 'specially when conjoined with i
fuji, jibber-jabber, jibe, jicama, jinx, jujitsu, kanji, hajji, djinn, jihad, ouija, frijoles and 25 more...
-
jack-of-all-trades
jack daniels, jack frost, jack russell, union jack, monterey jack, jack sprat, little jack horner, cracker jack, jack the ripper, jack rose, whiskey jack, jack rabbit and 69 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hijack.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.