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What (who) is hostage taking - definition
Hostage Taking Act
UNITED STATES ACT
Hostage taking act
The United States makes hostage-taking a criminal offense pursuant to . Generally, the Act applies to conduct occurring within the territory of the United States.
hostage
.jpg?width=200 "\"Gislas\" was an Old English word for \"hostages\", proving that the practice was commonplace in England long before the word \"hostage\" was coined.")
![occupied Poland]], February 1944](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Announcement of death of 100 of Polish hostages executed in occupied Warsaw after the death of Franz Kutschera (February 1944).jpg?width=200 "occupied Poland]], February 1944")
![[[Hostage Rescue Team]] agents](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Hostage Rescue Team members.jpg?width=200 "[[Hostage Rescue Team]] agents")
!["Hostages", 1896 painting by [[Jean-Paul Laurens]], Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Laurens - Hostages.jpg?width=200 "\"Hostages\", 1896 painting by [[Jean-Paul Laurens]], Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon")
![Palestine Mandate]], 1936](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Train hostages.jpg?width=200 "Palestine Mandate]], 1936")
PERSON/ENTITY HELD BY A BELLIGERENT PARTY TO ANOTHER OR SEIZED FOR CARRYING OUT AGREEMENT
Hostage crisis; Hostage rescue; Hostage-taking; Hostage situation; Hostage taking; Hostage-taker; Hostage crises; Hostage Rescue; Hostage situations; Hostage Crisis; Hostages
(hostages)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
A hostage is someone who has been captured by a person or organization and who may be killed or injured if people do not do what that person or organization demands.
N-COUNT
2.
If someone is taken hostage or is held hostage, they are captured and kept as a hostage.
He was taken hostage while on his first foreign assignment as a television journalist.
PHRASE: V inflects
3.
If you say you are hostage to something, you mean that your freedom to take action is restricted by things that you cannot control.
With the reduction in foreign investments, the government will be even more a hostage to the whims of the international oil price...
N-VAR: N to n
hostage
PERSON/ENTITY HELD BY A BELLIGERENT PARTY TO ANOTHER OR SEIZED FOR CARRYING OUT AGREEMENT
Hostage crisis; Hostage rescue; Hostage-taking; Hostage situation; Hostage taking; Hostage-taker; Hostage crises; Hostage Rescue; Hostage situations; Hostage Crisis; Hostages
¦ noun a person seized or held as security for the fulfilment of a condition.
Phrases
a hostage to fortune an act or remark seen as unwise because it invites trouble.
Origin
ME: from OFr., based on late L. obsidatus 'the state of being a hostage', from L. obses, obsid- 'hostage'.
Examples of use of hostage taking
1. Palmera was convicted in July of hostage–taking conspiracy.
2. The children perished in last September‘s Beslan school hostage–taking.
3. The hostage taking prompted the Israeli onslaught in Lebanon.
4. Hostage–taking is the insurgents‘ number one goal.
5. Economic hostage–taking is fairly easy to deal with.