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hostage

 - 4 dictionary results

hos⋅tage

  [hos-tij] noun, verb, -taged, -tag⋅ing.
Use hostage in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person given or held as security for the fulfillment of certain conditions or terms, promises, etc., by another.
2. Archaic. a security or pledge.
3. Obsolete. the condition of a hostage.
–verb (used with object)
4. to give (someone) as a hostage: He was hostaged to the Indians.
Origin:
1225–75; ME < OF hostage (h- by assoc. with (h)oste host 2 ), ostage ≪ VL *obsidāticum state of being a hostage < L obsid- (s. of obses) hostage (equiv. to ob- ob- + sid- sit ) + -āticum -age

Related forms:
hos⋅tage⋅ship, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To hostage
hos·tage   (hŏs'tĭj)   
n.  

  1. A person held by one party in a conflict as security that specified terms will be met by the opposing party.

  2. One that serves as security against an implied threat: superpowers held hostage to each other by their nuclear arsenals.

  3. One that is manipulated by the demands of another: "National policies cannot be made hostage to another country" (Alan D. Romberg).


[Middle English, from Old French, probably from host, guest, host; see host1.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

hostage 
c.1275, from O.Fr. hostage "person given as security or hostage," either from hoste "guest" (see host (1)) via notion of "a lodger held by a landlord as security," or from L.L. obsidanus "condition of being held as security," from obses "hostage," from ob- "before" + base of sedere "to sit." Modern political/terrorism sense is from 1970s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Hostage

a person delivered into the hands of another as a security for the performance of some promise, etc. (2 Kings 14:14; 2 Chr. 25:24).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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