ABDUCTOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does abductor mean? 

• ABDUCTOR (noun)
  The noun ABDUCTOR has 2 senses:

1. someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom)

2. a muscle that draws a body part away from the median line

  Familiarity information: ABDUCTOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ABDUCTOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

abductor; kidnaper; kidnapper; snatcher

Hypernyms ("abductor" is a kind of...):

captor; capturer (a person who captures and holds people or animals)

criminal; crook; felon; malefactor; outlaw (someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "abductor"):

crimp; crimper (someone who tricks or coerces men into service as sailors or soldiers)

seizer; shanghaier (a kidnapper who drugs men and takes them for compulsory service aboard a ship)

Derivation:

abduct (take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A muscle that draws a body part away from the median line

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

abductor; abductor muscle

Hypernyms ("abductor" is a kind of...):

skeletal muscle; striated muscle (a muscle that is connected at either or both ends to a bone and so move parts of the skeleton; a muscle that is characterized by transverse stripes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "abductor"):

musculus abductor digiti minimi manus (the abductor muscle of the little finger)

musculus abductor digiti minimi pedis (the abductor muscles of the little toe)

musculus abductor hallucis (the abductor muscle of the great toe)

musculus abductor pollicis (the abductor muscle of the thumb)

Derivation:

abduct (pull away from the body)

 Context examples 

From hour to hour yesterday I expected to hear that he had been found, and that his abductor was the murderer of John Straker.

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