Library / English Dictionary

KIDNAP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: kidnapped    , kidnapping   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom

Example:

The industrialist's son was kidnapped

Synonyms:

abduct; kidnap; nobble; snatch

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "kidnap" is one way to...):

seize (take or capture by force)

Domain category:

crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kidnap"):

impress; shanghai (take (someone) against his will for compulsory service, especially on board a ship)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

kidnaper; kidnapper (someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom))

kidnapping ((law) the unlawful act of capturing and carrying away a person against their will and holding them in false imprisonment)

Credits

 Context examples: 

When James determined to kidnap Lord Saltire, it was of this man’s service that he availed himself.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The police imagine, I take it, that this Fitzroy Simpson, having drugged the lad, and having in some way obtained a duplicate key, opened the stable door and took out the horse, with the intention, apparently, of kidnapping him altogether.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If he has been kidnapped, it could not have been for anything which he himself possesses.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)