Adjacent Words

Kidnap definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

KID'NAP, v.t. To steal a human being, man, woman or child; or to seize and forcibly carry away any person whatever from his own country or state into another.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom; "The industrialist's son was kidnapped" [syn: kidnap, nobble, abduct, snatch]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-napped; also kidnaped; -napping; also -naping) Etymology: probably back-formation from kidnapper, from kid + obsolete napper thief Date: 1682 to seize and detain or carry away by unlawful force or fraud and often with a demand for ransom • kidnappee or kidnapee noun • kidnapper also kidnaper noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (kidnapped, kidnapping; US kidnaped, kidnaping) 1 carry off (a person etc.) by illegal force or fraud esp. to obtain a ransom. 2 steal (a child). Derivatives: kidnapper n. Etymology: back-form. f. kidnapper f. KID(1) + nap = NAB

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Kidnap Kid"nap`, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Kidnapedor Kidnapped; p. pr. & vb. n. Kidnaping or Kidnapping.] [Kid a child + Prov. E. nap to seize, to grasp. Cf. Knab, Knap, Nab.] To take (any one) by force or fear, and against one's will, with intent to carry to another place. --Abbott. You may reason or expostulate with the parents, but never attempt to kidnap their children, and to make proselytes of them. --Whately. Note: Originally used only of stealing children, but now extended in application to any human being, involuntarily abducted.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(kidnaps, kidnapping, kidnapped) Note: in AM, also use 'kidnaped', 'kidnaping' 1. To kidnap someone is to take them away illegally and by force, and usually to hold them prisoner in order to demand something from their family, employer, or government. Police in Brazil uncovered a plot to kidnap him... They were intelligent and educated, yet they chose to kidnap and kill... The kidnapped man was said to have been seized by five people. VERB: V n, V, V-ed • kidnapper (kidnappers) His kidnappers have threatened that they will kill him unless three militants are released from prison. N-COUNT • kidnapping (kidnappings) Two youngsters have been arrested and charged with kidnapping. N-VAR 2. Kidnap or a kidnap is the crime of taking someone away by force. He was charged with the kidnap of a 25 year-old woman. = abduction N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Abduct (any human being), carry off, steal away, run off with.

Moby Thesaurus

abduce, abduct, capture, carry away, carry off, coax, crimp, decoy, entice, hold for ransom, impress, inveigh, lure, make off with, return, run away with, seduce, seize, shanghai, skyjack, snatch, spirit away, throttle, waylay