Lexic.us

Definition of Ransom

1. Verb. Exchange or buy back for money; under threat.

2. Noun. Money demanded for the return of a captured person.

3. Noun. Payment for the release of someone.

4. Noun. The act of freeing from captivity or punishment.

Definition of Ransom

1. n. The release of a captive, or of captured property, by payment of a consideration; redemption; as, prisoners hopeless of ransom.

2. v. t. To redeem from captivity, servitude, punishment, or forfeit, by paying a price; to buy out of servitude or penalty; to rescue; to deliver; as, to ransom prisoners from an enemy.

Definition of Ransom

1. Noun. Money paid for the freeing of a hostage. ¹

2. Verb. (context: 14th century) To deliver, especially in context of sin or relevant penalties. ¹

3. Verb. To pay a price to set someone free from captivity or punishment. ¹

4. Verb. To exact a ransom for, or a payment on. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Ransom

1. to obtain the release of by paying a demanded price [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Lexicographical Neighbors of Ransom

ranns ranny ranolazine ranpike ranpikes ransack ransacked ransacker ransackers ransacking

ransacks ransel ransels ranseur ranseurs ransom (current term) ransom money ransomable ransomed ransomer

ransomers ransoming ransomite ransomless ransoms ransomware rant rantallions ranted

Literary usage of Ransom

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. International Law: A Treatise by Lassa Oppenheim (1921)
"Although prizes have, as a rule, to be brought ransom before a Prize Court, International Law nevertheless does not forbid the ransoming of the captured ..."

2. The Law of Nations: Or, Principles of the Law of Nature, Applied to the by Emer de Vattel, Joseph Chitty (1883)
"After having discussed the right of making prisoners of war,—the obligation of the captor to release them at the peace, by exchange or ransom,—and that of ..."

3. Commentaries on American Law by James Kent (1901)
"ransom Bills. — Sometimes circumstances will not permit property captured at sea to be sent into port; and the captor, in such cases, may either destroy it, ..."

4. The Principles of International Law by Thomas Joseph Lawrence (1910)
"The courts of most states look upon ransom bills as contracts of necessity ... Great Britain has prohibited the practice of ransom for more than a century. ..."

5. The Principles of International Law by Thomas Joseph Lawrence (1910)
"The courts of most states look upon ransom bills as contracts of necessity ... Great Britain has prohibited the practice of ransom for more than a century. ..."

6. A Treatise on International Law by William Edward Hall, Alexander Pearce Higgins (1917)
"ransom is a repurchase by the original owner of the PART III property acquired by ... As the agree- CHAP- m ment to ransom is a voluntary act on his part, ..."

7. Elements of International Law by Henry Wheaton, William Beach Lawrence (1855)
"If the ransomed vessel is lost by the perils of the sea, before her arrival, the obligation to pay the sum stipulated for her ransom is not thereby ..."

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