Log in or Sign up
  1. kidnap love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To seize and detain unlawfully and usually for ransom.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To steal, abduct, or carry off forcibly (a human being, whether man, woman, or child). In law it sometimes implies a carrying beyond the jurisdiction.

Wiktionary

  1. v. transitive To seize and detain a person unlawfully; sometimes for ransom.
  2. n. An instance of kidnapping.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To take (any one) by force or fear, and against one's will, with intent to carry to another place.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom

Etymologies

  1. From kid ("child") + nap ("nab, grab") (Wiktionary)
  2. Probably kid + nap, to snatch (perhaps variant of nab and or of Scandinavian origin). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

Show 10 more examples...

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘kidnap’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • reesetee Ah, another expert in madeupical etymology. :-) Apr 8, 2008

  • asativum Recent evidence suggests it actually traces back to medieval English, and a common hunting prank among the noble set.

    Tethered young goats were used as bait to attract bears, wolves and other predators. The hunter or gamekeeper would often nap within earshot of the kid while waiting for the beast to show up, at which point the kid would make a ruckus, waking the napper and bringing the bear (or whatnot) to its speedy demise. Of course, it was the work of a moment for a neighboring squire to instead make off with the kid -- thus, kidnap. Also the origin of the phrase, to get your goat.

    Apr 8, 2008

  • reesetee According to the OED, it's believed to be a backformation of kidnapper: "f. KID + NAP v., to snatch, seize (cf. NAB)." Apparently it evolved into a verb form from the noun. Apr 7, 2008

  • bilby How do you figure this as a backformation, reesetee? Apr 6, 2008

Tweets

Looking for tweets for kidnap.

‘kidnap’ has been looked up 2437 times, added to 6 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.