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kidnap

verb
/ˈkɪdnæp/

Etymology

From kid + nap (“to nab; to grab”). Originally Thieves' cant, referring to the practice of stealing children and shipping them to colonies or plantations as laborers. First attested c. 1680.

  1. inherited from *hnappaz✻ — “a cup, bowl”
  2. inherited from *hnapp✻
  3. inherited from hnæpp — “a cup, bowl”
  4. inherited from nap — “a bowl”
  5. compounded as kidnap — “kid + nap”

Definitions

  1. To seize or detain a person unlawfully and move or conceal them

    To seize or detain a person unlawfully and move or conceal them; sometimes for ransom.

    • Hello, ladies! How’s the Big Apple? Rotten, Jerry! Clover's been kidnapped! Oh, dear! That's the second time this month!
    • Angrest, a soldier, was kidnapped from his tank at the Nahal Oz base when it was attacked by Hamas.

  2. The crime, or an instance, of kidnapping.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for kidnap. 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