hostage
nounEtymology
From Middle English hostage, ostage, from Old French hostage, ostage. This, in turn, is either from Old French hoste (“host”) + -age (in which case the sense development is from taking someone into "lodging" to taking them into "captivity", to applying the term to a captive), or is from Vulgar Latin obsidāticum (“condition of being held captive”), from Latin obses (“hostage, captive”), with the initial h- added under the influence of hoste or another word. Displaced native Old English ġīsl.
- derived from obsidāticum
- derived from hostage
- inherited from hostage
Definitions
A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty…
A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal.
A person seized in order to compel another party to act (or refrain from acting) in a…
A person seized in order to compel another party to act (or refrain from acting) in a certain way, because of the threat of harm to the hostage.
- For example, a subject surprised in the act of robbery may take a hostage to use as a shield.
- One of the hostages pretends to be pregnant and is released at Benghazi Airport, where the aircraft refuels.
- With a ski mask pulled tightly down across his face, an uninvited guest was dragging his petrified hostage down the hall on the thirty-eighth floor towards the Presidential Suite.
Something that constrains one's actions because it is at risk.
- “Oh, well,” I consented sadly, “the garden will lose half of its charm, but such, I suppose, is my hostage to prosperity.”
- I, too, have a hostage to the future in my large family, as you have, and my only personal satisfaction is that I will leave the heritage to them that I did the best I could for a great nation.
- With a world in flux, many believed that such a doctrine risked offering a hostage to fortune that may be rendered irrelevant by a rapidly transforming world environment.
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One who is compelled by something, especially something that poses a threat
One who is compelled by something, especially something that poses a threat; one who is not free to choose their own course of action.
- Can he change the situation significantly or is he a hostage to a system that is resistant to dismantling?
The condition of being held as security or to compel someone else to act or not act in a…
The condition of being held as security or to compel someone else to act or not act in a particular way.
- The concept of “lordship” was deeper and survived longer on the Continent. On every dimension, one could argue, they engaged in less hostage capital. It is not surprising then that their wealth levels did not match those in Britain.
To give (someone or something) as a hostage to (someone or something else).
To hold (someone or something) hostage, especially in a way that constrains or controls…
To hold (someone or something) hostage, especially in a way that constrains or controls the person or thing held, or in order to exchange for something else.
- Thus, via the Arusha Declaration the Tanzania Government were demonstrating that its country's development would not be hostaged to the capriciousness of the West.
- Warning the United States against further intervention, the Reformist Forces said: “Never again shall the Filipino be hostaged to foreign might. The Filipino has (his) own mind with the Philippine interest in the highest priority."
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for hostage. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA