kid·nap (k d n p )tr.v. kid·napped or kid·naped, kid·nap·ping or kid·nap·ing, kid·naps To seize and detain unlawfully and usually for ransom. kid nap·pee, kidnap·ee (kdn-p ) n.kid nap n.kid napper, kidnaper n.Word History: Appropriately enough, kidnapper seems to have originated among those who perpetrate this crime. We know this because kid and napper, the two parts of the compound, were slang of the sort that criminals used. Kid, which still has an informal air, was considered low slang when kidnapper was formed, and napper is obsolete slang for a thief, coming from the verb nap, "to steal." Nap is possibly a variant of nab, which also still has a slangy ring. In 1678, the year in which the word is first recorded, kidnappers plied their trade to secure laborers for plantations in colonies such as the ones in North America. The term later took on the broader sense that it has today. The verb kidnap is recorded later (1682) than the noun and so is possibly a back-formation, that is, people may have assumed that a kidnapper kidnaps. |
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. |  kidnapping - (law) the unlawful act of capturing and carrying away a person against their will and holding them in false imprisonmentlaw, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order" |
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