KIDNAP (kidnapped, kidnapping)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: kidnapped    , kidnapping   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does kidnap mean? 

• KIDNAP (verb)
  The verb KIDNAP has 1 sense:

1. take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom

  Familiarity information: KIDNAP used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KIDNAP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they kidnap    ... he / she / it kidnaps   
Past simple: kidnaped    / kidnapped   
Past participle: kidnaped    / kidnapped   
-ing form: kidnaping    / kidnapping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

abduct; kidnap; nobble; snatch

Context example:

The industrialist's son was kidnapped

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)

 Context examples 

From the police point of view he will have kidnapped the boy for the purpose of ransom.

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

I sat in silence wondering what on earth could be his reason for kidnapping me in this extraordinary fashion.

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

He opened his eyes, and into them came the unbridled anger of a kidnapped king.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Kidnapping a German subject. And stealing his private papers.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“There has been a conspiracy to maim or kidnap my man, and I have every reason to believe that you are privy to it.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here I walked about for a long time, feeling very strange, and mortally apprehensive of some one coming in and kidnapping me; for I believed in kidnappers, their exploits having frequently figured in Bessie's fireside chronicles.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The other most obvious explanation is that the child has been kidnapped for the purpose of levying ransom.

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

And why should gypsies kidnap him?

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

Surely you don’t really imagine that he may be kidnapped in order to give information against his wealthy uncle?

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

His visitor, on entering his rooms, had drawn a life-preserver from his sleeve, and had so impressed him with the fear of instant and inevitable death that he had kidnapped him for the second time.

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