Link Centre Dictionary

kidnap

kid·nap

UK/ˈkɪdnæp/ US/kɪdˈnæp/ fairly common

verb

1.

take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom

  • “The industrialist”
Synonyms

Origin

From kid + nap (“to nab; to grab”). Originally Thieves' cant, referring to the practice of stealing children and shipping them to colonies or plantations as laborers. First attested c. 1680.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.