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hostageship

 - 2 dictionary results

hos⋅tage

  [hos-tij] noun, verb, -taged, -tag⋅ing.
Use hostageship 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.
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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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