exchange or buy back for money; under threat

the act of freeing from captivity or punishment

payment for the release of someone

money demanded for the return of a captured person

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.

Price paid for release from captivity, etc., or for return of goods captured by an enemy; release; redemption.

To free from prison; slavery, or punishment, by a payment; redeem; deliver.

Ransomer.

Price paid for redemption from captivity or punishment: release from captivity.

To redeem from captivity, punishment, or ownership.

Price paid to redeem a person or goods from captivity.

To redeem by a ransom.

To secure the release of for a price; redeem.

Money paid for the release of a person or property captured.

Release purchased, as from captivity; redemption.

The price paid for the redemption of a prisoner of slave, or for goods captured by an enemy; release from captivity, bondage, or possession of an enemy; a sum or a fine paid for a pardon; the price paid to procure the pardon of sins, and the redemption of the sinner.

To redeem from captivity or bondage; to redeem from the bondage of sin. See Redemption.

Price paid for the freedom of a prisoner or slave, or for the restitution of goods taken by an enemy; a fine paid for pardon, or in lieu of corporal punishment.

To free from captivity, slavery, or punishment, by the payment of a price; to redeem from the bondage or punishment of sin.

Even while he is so certain that the driver of the omnibus is in league with their enemies; that the break down is only a part of the grand scheme to obtain possession of the English girl who can pay a big ransom, he has never once connected the Arab guide with the matter. – Miss Caprice by St. George Rathborne

Set him free, you will get a good ransom for his life; but for an example, and to frighten the rest, command that I, an old man, shall be hung. – Marie by Alexander Pushkin

Deliver him to me for ransom! – Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians by Woislav M. Petrovitch

" But Macdonald seemed hurt when I asked him how much money they wanted you to pay as Nola's ransom," she said. – The Rustler of Wind River by G. W. Ogden

All was ours or was to ransom at our sweet will. – Leaves from a Field Note-Book by J. H. Morgan

The first is, you must not demand any ransom for me. – Frank Among The Rancheros by Harry Castlemon

And Ransom will be the other. – Melbourne House by Elizabeth Wetherell

But he'll have no ransom- no, not if it breaks Maximilian's heart. – The Missourian by Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle

We read that Christ " gave Himself a ransom for all." – Love's Final Victory by Horatio

8. He gained possession of a large amount of money and arms, but let the Spanish captives go without ransom. – Selections from Viri Romae by Charles François L'Homond

The story of the English spy who wishes to ransom his cousin, but who also treats secretly with the Hurons,- who treats with Pemaou, monsieur. – Montlivet by Alice Prescott Smith

A few hours afterwards he sent to me again, saying, that if myself and the quarter- master would assist them at the great guns, that if also the rest of the men went on shore and succeeded in taking the place, he would then take the money offered for our ransom, and give them twenty dollars for every Chinaman's head they cut off. – The Pirates Own Book by Charles Ellms

Some, even of the fifteenth century, are not worth an Englishman's ransom by a long way. – Book Collecting A Guide for Amateurs by John Herbert Slater

Gibraltar, then in the hands of Spain, with Tarifa and eighteen castles of the district, were offered, and refused for her ransom. – The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1 by Frederick Whymper

Sorry am I his numbers are so few, His soldiers sick and famish'd in their march; For I am sure, when he shall see our army, He'll drop his heart into the sink of fear, And for achievement offer us his ransom. – King-Henry-V by Shakespeare, William

Had you not been willing to give so largely for my ransom, no one had thought to buy me. – The May Flower, and Miscellaneous Writings by Harriet Beecher Stowe

This did not close the case; there were other cases on record where a child was stolen by adults for purposes other than ransom. – The Fourth R by George Oliver Smith

He delivered the town back in return for provisions and a ransom of twenty thousand pieces of eight. – Caribbee by Thomas Hoover

A pretty ransom loomed brightly. – The Missourian by Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle

Have you not promised that we should be taken to Swearah, and has not your partner gone there to obtain the money for our ransom? – The Boy Slaves by Mayne Reid