hostage

[hos-tij]

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.

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 formshos·tage·ship, noun

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

Related Words for hostage

prisoner, captive, victim, scapegoat, pledge, pawn, earnest, token, security, surety, guaranty

Examples from the Web for hostage

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
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
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

Historical Examples of hostage

He has, for this reason, resolved to detain you in it, as a hostage for them.
Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, Complete
Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre
And then he had given a hostage to fortune, or his father had for him.
The Christian
Hall Caine
For even if Bishop yielded to their demand, they would retain her as a hostage.
Captain Blood
Rafael Sabatini
With even that hope to get even with him, I will not kill you, yet I must have that money or a hostage.
Buffalo Bill's Spy Trailer
Colonel Prentiss Ingraham
If the Prince is a hostage for your safety, then he must be sacrificed.
The Destroyer
Burton Egbert Stevenson

British Dictionary definitions for hostage

hostage

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

Word Origin and History for hostage

late 13c., from Old French hostage "person given as security or hostage" (12c., Modern French ôtage), either from hoste "guest" (see host (n.1)) via notion of "a lodger held by a landlord as security," or from Late Latin obsidanus "condition of being held as security," from obses "hostage," from ob- "before" + base of sedere "to sit" [OED]. Modern political/terrorism sense is from 1970.