hostage

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“
The pirates have departed the ship and they have taken one crew member with them as a hostage, 'the Maersk Line spokesman said, but could not confirm whether the hostage was the captain.

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A person held by one party in a conflict as security that specified terms will be met by the opposing party.
  2. noun One that serves as security against an implied threat: superpowers held hostage to each other by their nuclear arsenals.
  3. noun One that is manipulated by the demands of another: "National policies cannot be made hostage to another country” (Alan D. Romberg).

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • A soloist choosing to work in this odd style ultimately winds up as a hostage -- he can go only as far into the 'experimental zones' as his rhythm section will allow him to go. —  The Real Frank Zappa Book
  • He nodded and started moving silently toward the cashier's station, the only way out from behind the counter into the front of the store Frank didn't seem convinced that a hostage was the answer to the police cruiser squatting silently in the parking lot. —  AnalogSFF,January-February2007
  • Has Hamas abducted an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, on Israeli soil, and does it keep him as a hostage, which is under international law a crime against humanity? —  Israpundit
  • It's sitting on the shelf because the agencies involved understand that holding the data hostage is the key to their power to get more funding for new programs. —  All Points Blog
  • Holding America hostage is all the republicans have left …. —  Think Progress
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This word has been looked up 34 times.

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Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, probably from host, guest, host; see host1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English hostage, ostage, from Old French hostage, ostage, modern F. ôtage = Provencal ostatge = Spanish hostaje = Italian ostaggio, also statico (Middle Latin reflex hostagium, hostaticum), from Middle Latin *obsidaticus, a hostage, from Late Latin obsidatus, the condition of a hostage, from Latin obses (obsid-), Old Latin opses, a hostage, a surety, pledge, literally one who remains behind (with the enemy), from obsidere, sit, stay, remain, abide, from ob, at, on, about (see ob-), + sedere = English sit. The initial h is unoriginal, and is due to simulation of Latin hostis, enemy: see host.
  2. from hostage, n.
  3. from Middle English hostage, ostage, from Old French hostage, ostage, houstage, lodging, from hoster, oster, lodge: see host, v.
 

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/ˈhɑstədʒ/
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