captor

[kap-ter]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR captor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who has captured a person or thing.

Origin of captor

1640–50; < Late Latin, equivalent to cap(ere) to take + -tor -tor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for captor

jailer, holder, subduer, conqueror, conquistador, defeater, subjugator, master, overlord, owner

Examples from the Web for captor

Contemporary Examples of captor

Innuendo: Two “punishers” strip down and start to seduce Theon as part of the mindgames enacted by his captor.
‘Game of Thrones’: Sex, Starks, and Nudity by the Numbers
Anna Klassen
June 10, 2013
These are not adversaries, or captor and his incarcerated captive.
Mads Mikkelsen On Playing the Tasty New Hannibal Lecter
Kevin Fallon
April 4, 2013
Good Morning America anchor Juju Chang asked Smart how she had found the courage to testify against her captor Mitchell.
Elizabeth Smart on How She Survived Her Kidnapping
Liz Goodwin
March 12, 2011
Reading his letter, I thought of the famous exchange between the Confederate soldier and his Yankee captor.
It's Time for Us to Go
Christopher Buckley
October 28, 2009

Historical Examples of captor

He changed his position so that he could see his captor better.
The Avenger
E. Phillips Oppenheim
His captor chuckled for a few moments and then called out in Russian.
Poisoned Air
Sterner St. Paul Meek
Mad with rage and fright, he clawed and bit at the neck of his captor.
Creatures of the Night
Alfred W. Rees
Baltasar complied, and captive and captor advanced to the horses.
Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 366, April, 1846
Various
If he is caught, he pays his captor ten arrow heads ransom for his life.
Boy Scouts Handbook
Boy Scouts of America

British Dictionary definitions for captor

captor

noun

a person or animal that holds another captive

Word Origin for captor

C17: from Latin, from capere to take

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for captor

1680s, from Latin captor "a catcher," agent noun from captus, past participle of capere "to take" (see capable). Earlier it meant "censor" (1640s). Fem. form captress recorded from 1867.