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hostage
[ hos-tij ]
noun
- a person given or held as security for the fulfillment of certain conditions or terms, promises, etc., by another.
- Archaic. a security or pledge.
- Obsolete. the condition of a hostage.
verb (used with object)
- to give (someone) as a hostage:
He was hostaged to the Indians.
hostage
/ ˈhɒstɪdʒ /
noun
- a person given to or held by a person, organization, etc, as a security or pledge or for ransom, release, exchange for prisoners, etc
- the state of being held as a hostage
- any security or pledge
- give hostages to fortuneto place oneself in a position in which misfortune may strike through the loss of what one values most
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Other Words From
- hostage·ship noun
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of hostage1
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Example Sentences
They took cover inside a print works to the north east of Paris, where they held a member of staff as a hostage.
France 24's coverage of two developing hostage situations in Paris on Friday.
The camera passes to each hostage in turn to allow them to plead with the Lebanese government to let them live.
As a cafe in Sydney, Australia came under siege by a hostage-taking gunman on Monday, those nearby attempted to flee the area.
Two hostages are dead and 15 others free after an Islamic radical took them hostage before police killed him.
She was held as a hostage in Jamestown in an effort to restore peace between the Indians and the English.
I am summoned hither, so I come, but it may be necessary to secure a hostage for my safe conduct outside the walls again.
The chiefs, in retiring from the conference, took with them Captain Trevor as a hostage.
Vehement the words of Wise, who imagined that the Yankees had seized one of his children as a hostage for himself.
With such a town, and such a hostage, all Asiatic Siberia must necessarily fall into the hands of the invaders.
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