hostage

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hos·tage

(hŏs′tĭj)

1. A person held by one party in a conflict as security that specified terms will be met by the opposing party.

2. One that serves as security against an implied threat: superpowers held hostage to each other by their nuclear arsenals.

3. One that is under the constraining control of another: "In becoming a mother one becomes a hostage to fortune" (Janna Malamud Smith).

[Middle English, from Old French, probably from host, guest, host; see host¹.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hostage

(ˈhɒstɪdʒ)

1. a person given to or held by a person, organization, etc, as a security or pledge or for ransom, release, exchange for prisoners, etc

2. the state of being held as a hostage

3. any security or pledge

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

[C13: from Old French, from hoste guest, host¹]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hos•tage

(ˈhɒs tɪdʒ)

n.

1. a person given or held as security for the fulfillment of certain conditions or terms, promises, etc., by another.

2. Archaic. a security or pledge.

[1225–75; Middle English < Old French hostage]

hostage

- First referred to the state of someone handed over as a pledge or security (for the fulfillment of an undertaking).

hostage

A person held as a pledge that certain terms or agreements will be kept. (The taking of hostages is forbidden under the Geneva Conventions, 1949.)

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

hostage - a prisoner who is held by one party to insure that another party will meet specified terms

surety

captive, prisoner - a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war

hostage

noun captive, prisoner, pledge, pawn, security, surety the man they were holding as a hostage

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

رَهِينَةٌرَهينَه

rukojmí

gidsel

panttivanki

talac

túsz

hostageostage

gísl

ostaggio

人質

인질

įkaitaslaikyti įkaitupaimti įkaitu

ķīlnieks

gijzelaar

gissel

zakładnik zakładniczka

refém

заложник

rukojemník

talec

gisslan

ตัวประกัน

rehine

con tin

人质

hostage

[ˈhɒstɪdʒ] N → rehén mf
to take sb hostage → tomar or (LAm) agarrar a algn como rehén

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

hostage

[ˈhɒstɪdʒ] n → otage m
to take sb hostage → prendre qn en otage
to be taken hostage → être pris(e) en otage
to be held hostage → être retenu(e) en otagehost computer n → ordinateur m hôtehost country n

[conference, sports event] → pays m d'accueil

[immigrant] → pays m d'accueil

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

hostage

n → Geisel f; to take/hold somebody hostage → jdn als Geisel nehmen/halten; to take hostages → Geiseln nehmen

hostage

hostage-taker

n → Geiselnehmer(in) m(f)

hostage-taking

n → Geiselnahme f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

hostage

[ˈhɒstɪdʒ] n → ostaggio
to take sb hostage → prendere qn in ostaggio

hostage

(ˈhostidʒ) noun

a person who is held prisoner in order to ensure that the captor's demands etc will be carried out. The terrorists took three people with them as hostages; They took / were holding three people hostage.

take/hold (someone) hostage

to take or keep (someone) as a hostage. The police were unable to attack the terrorists because they were holding three people hostage.

hostage

→ رَهِينَةٌ rukojmí gidsel Geisel όμηρος rehén panttivanki otage talac ostaggio 人質 인질 gijzelaar gissel zakładnik refém заложник gisslan ตัวประกัน rehine con tin 人质

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And if you want to know about number four, and that boy, why, shiver my timbers, isn't he a hostage? Are we a-going to waste a hostage?

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Off he went wid that fit in his little head an' a dose of fever, an nothin' would suit but givin' you the dog as a hostage."

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With her as hostage I could force acquiescence to my every demand.

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...He was a hostage....But I could not keep him in the house on the lake, either, because of Christine; so I locked him up comfortably, I chained him up nicely--a whiff of the Mazenderan scent had left him as limp as a rag--in the Communists' dungeon, which is in the most deserted and remote part of the Opera, below the fifth cellar, where no one ever comes, and where no one ever hears you.

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In the monarchy of Great Britain, it furnishes a substitute for the prohibited responsibility of the chief magistrate, which serves in some degree as a hostage to the national justice for his good behavior.

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The great emporium of its commerce, the great reservoir of its wealth, lies every moment at the mercy of events, and may almost be regarded as a hostage for ignominious compliances with the dictates of a foreign enemy, or even with the rapacious demands of pirates and barbarians.

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"I say that she is a hostage for the Parisians," answered the cardinal.

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They would, they said, send an escort of Sagoths with me to fetch the precious document from its hiding-place, keeping Dian at Phutra as a hostage and releasing us both the moment that the document was safely restored to their queen.

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Then ye may not do better, good folk, than gather and hear the tale I have to tell, sith it concerneth you, forasmuch as ye go to find that ye will not find, and seek that ye will seek in vain, my life being hostage for my word, and my word and message being these, namely: That a hap has happened where- of the like has not been seen no more but once this two hundred years, which was the first and last time that that said misfortune strake the holy valley in that form by commandment of the Most High whereto by reasons just and causes thereunto contributing, wherein the matter --"

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'What we want,' says Miss Lackland, 'is a hostage.'"

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When I showed myself to the two hostages, it was with the captain, who told them I was the person the governor had ordered to look after them; and that it was the governor's pleasure they should not stir anywhere but by my direction; that if they did, they would be fetched into the castle, and be laid in irons: so that as we never suffered them to see me as governor, I now appeared as another person, and spoke of the governor, the garrison, the castle, and the like, upon all occasions.

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HE THAT hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.