hostage

[ hos-tij ]

/ ˈhɒs tɪdʒ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hostage ON THESAURUS.COM

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), hos·taged, hos·tag·ing.

to give (someone) as a hostage: He was hostaged to the Indians.

Nearby words

hospodar, host, host computer, host-specific, hosta, hostage, hostel, hostel school, hosteler, hosteller, hostelling

Origin of hostage

1225–75; Middle English < Old French hostage (h- by association with (h)oste host²), ostage ≪ Vulgar Latin *obsidāticum state of being a hostage < Latin obsid- (stem of obses) hostage (equivalent to ob- ob- + sid- sit¹) + -āticum -age

Related forms

hos·tage·ship, noun

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

Examples from the Web for hostage

They took cover inside a print works to the north east of Paris, where they held a member of staff as a hostage.
France Kills Charlie Hebdo Murderers|Nico Hines|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Two hostages are dead and 15 others free after an Islamic radical took them hostage before police killed him.
Jihadi Siege in Sydney Ends in Gunfight|Courtney Subramanian, Lennox Samuels, Chris Allbritton|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
ISIS continues to hold one more American hostage, a 26-year-old female aid worker.
Did U.S. Policy Get Luke Somers Killed?|Shane Harris|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
One hostage died en route, the Journal reported, while the other died on the operating table.
Did U.S. Policy Get Luke Somers Killed?|Shane Harris|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST

There was a man who said his boyfriend was holding him hostage with a gun.
Sex, Suicide, and Homework: The Secret World of the Telephone Hotline|Tim Teeman|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
On the 23d June, the king sent at midnight for our baas to come to wait upon him, sending a noble as his hostage.
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII.|Robert Kerr
Yet despite her status as hostage and Earthwoman, she was afraid.
The Women-Stealers of Thrayx|Fox B. Holden
We sent to them a man as a hostage and mark of peace, and they made signs to him from a distance to put down his arms.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XXXI, 1640|Diego Aduarte
Up to the time of the revolution, Canada had been a hostage, and England felt that she could at no time afford a rupture with us.
Philip Dru: Administrator|Edward Mandell House
The Code expressly reserves the right of ‘naming’ this hostage to the debtor himself.
The Relations between the Laws of Babylonia and the Laws of the Hebrew Peoples|C. H. W. Johns

British Dictionary definitions for hostage

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 fortune to place oneself in a position in which misfortune may strike through the loss of what one values most

Word Origin for hostage

C13: from Old French, from hoste guest, host 1

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