kidnap

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to abduct and detain someone illegally, often to extract a ransom

   The industrialist's child was kidnapped.

2. 2
   verb

   To seize or detain a person unlawfully and move or conceal them; sometimes for ransom.

   Hello, ladies! How’s the Big Apple? Rotten, Jerry! Clover's been kidnapped! Oh, dear! That's the second time this month!

3. 3
   noun

   The crime, or an instance, of kidnapping.

Etymology

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.