1. ransom - Noun
2. ransom - Verb
3. Ransom - Proper noun
The release of a captive, or of captured property, by payment of a consideration; redemption; as, prisoners hopeless of ransom.
The money or price paid for the redemption of a prisoner, or for goods captured by an enemy; payment for freedom from restraint, penalty, or forfeit.
A sum paid for the pardon of some great offense and the discharge of the offender; also, a fine paid in lieu of corporal punishment.
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.
To exact a ransom for, or a payment on.
Source: Webster's dictionaryPut up at the moment of greatest suffering a prayer, not for thy own escape, but for the enfranchisement of some being dear to thee, and the sovereign spirit will accept thy ransom. Margaret Fuller
Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil. H. L. Mencken
We're being held to ransom by these pinstripe Scargills... Vince Cable
Besides, [Saint] George pointed out, dragons burn towns and demand princesses as ransom. The dragons, referring to the Siege of Jerusalem, the Sack of Constantinople and a thousand years of dynastic marriages, said, Look who's talking. Tom Holt
A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. Mahatma Gandhi
A peck of March dust is worth a king's ransom. Spanish Proverb