RANSOM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ransom mean? 

• RANSOM (noun)
  The noun RANSOM has 3 senses:

1. money demanded for the return of a captured person

2. payment for the release of someone

3. the act of freeing from captivity or punishment

  Familiarity information: RANSOM used as a noun is uncommon.

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

1. exchange or buy back for money; under threat

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• RANSOM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Money demanded for the return of a captured person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

ransom; ransom money

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

cost (the total spent for goods or services including money and time and labor)

Derivation:

ransom (exchange or buy back for money; under threat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Payment for the release of someone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

defrayal; defrayment; payment (the act of paying money)

Derivation:

ransom (exchange or buy back for money; under threat)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of freeing from captivity or punishment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

recovery; retrieval (the act of regaining or saving something lost (or in danger of becoming lost))

Derivation:

ransom (exchange or buy back for money; under threat)

• RANSOM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ransom    ... he / she / it ransoms   
Past simple: ransomed   
Past participle: ransomed   
-ing form: ransoming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Exchange or buy back for money; under threat

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

ransom; redeem

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

change; exchange; interchange (give to, and receive from, one another)

Domain category:

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

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

ransom (the act of freeing from captivity or punishment)

ransom (payment for the release of someone)

ransom (money demanded for the return of a captured person)

 Context examples 

Later, I served under the Warden of Berwick, that very John Copeland of whom our friend spake, the same who held the King of Scots to ransom.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

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)

But the young man refused to do it: so the fox said, “I will at any rate give you good counsel: beware of two things; ransom no one from the gallows, and sit down by the side of no river.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Therefore, my sweeting, there is the more need that I should turn to where there is good pay to be earned and brave ransoms to be won.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

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)

“What ransom, then, does he demand?” asked the Spaniard.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A second very obvious one is that this young man really is the heir of a great property, however modest his means may at present be, and it is not impossible that a plot to hold him for ransom might be concocted.

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

There is little to be gained out of a battle, unless one have the fortune to win a ransom.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then there is the chance of a ransom.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Or, again, one might seize the other round the middle, pluck him off his horse and bear him to the pavilion, there to hold him to ransom.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)