Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Kidnapper |
KidnapperNoun1. Someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "kidnapper" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1827. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Kidnapper (A). One who nabs or steals "kids" or young children. "Swarms of kidnappers were busy in every northern town."- J. B. McMaster: People of the United States, vol. ii. chap. x. p. 357. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Slang in 1811 | KIDNAPPER. Originally one who stole or decoyed children or apprentices from their parents or masters, to send them to the colonies; called also spiriting: but now used for all recruiting crimps for the king's troops, or those of the East India company, an. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: KidnapperSynonyms: abductor (n), snatcher (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Kidnapper |
| English words defined with "kidnapper": Kidnaper ♦ seizer, shanghaier. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "kidnapper": Silver Cooper. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Kidnapper" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (kidnap), German (kidnapper), Norwegian (abductor). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | The longest distance between two points is a kidnapper and his money (The Way of the Gun; writing credit: Christopher McQuarrie) When you catch that kidnapper, I want you to lock me in a room with him for 20 minutes and throw away the key. (Ransom!; writing credit: Cyril Hume ; Richard Maibaum) Hostage ettiquette: kidnapper pays the incidentals (The Replacement Killers; writing credit: Ken Sanzel) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Kidnapper Tempest Cody (1914) The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper (1908) Date with a Kidnapper (1976) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Goldi tribesmen acting out folk drama, "The repulse of the kidnapper". Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Ed Smart | Well, I've just heard that, you know, with him being in prison that, you know, if he got out into the general population there, that with him being looked at as a child kidnapper that his life probably would not be long. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Kidnapper" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Kidnapper" is used about 62 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 62 | 42,755 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "kidnapper": child-kidnapper, husband-kidnapper. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
kidnapper | 36 |
kidnapper les | 5 |
female kidnapper | 4 |
little kidnapper | 4 |
kidnapper picture | 2 |
kidnapper love | 2 |
elizabeth kidnapper smart | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "kidnapper"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | rrëmbyes fëmijësh. (various references) | |
Arabic | طماع (avid, grasping, greedy, predatory, pushing, rapacious, ravening), خاطف (cursory, hijacker, momentary, pirate, rapid, ravisher, swift). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | крадец на хора, похитител (abductor, ravisher, undoer). (various references) | |
Chinese | 綁匪 , 绑架者. (various references) | |
Czech | únosce (abducent, abductor, captor). (various references) | |
French | kidnappeur, ravisseur. (various references) | |
German | entführer (abductor, hijacker, hijackers, kidnappers, skyjacker). (various references) | |
Greek | απαγωγέασ (abductor), απαγωγέας (arrester), απαγωγεύσ (abductor). (various references) | |
Hebrew | חוטף (abductor, snatcher), חטפן (snatcher). (various references) | |
Hungarian | emberrabló. (various references) | |
Indonesian | penculik (abductor). (various references) | |
Italian | rapitore (abductor). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 人"い (kidnapping), 勾引し . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ひとさらい (kidnapping), かどわかし. (various references) | |
Manx | geideyder (embezzler, purloiner, stealer). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | idnapperkay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | seqüestrador, raptor (abductor), autor de rapto. (various references) | |
Romanian | rãpitor de oameni, hoţ de copii. (various references) | |
Russian | похититель детей. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | kidnaper (hi-jacker, kidnaper), otmičar (abductor, hi-jacker). (various references) | |
Spanish | secuestrador (abductor, hijacker, kidnaper). (various references) | |
Swedish | kidnappare (abductor). (various references) | |
Turkish | adam kaçıran kimse (kidnaper), çocuk hırsızı (kidnaper). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | викрадач людей. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | kẻ bắt cóc. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | plagiariis, plagiarius. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "kidnapper": kidnappers. (additional references) | |
| |
"Kidnapper" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Midnapore. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "kidnapper" (pronounced ki"dna'per) |
| 3 | -a' p er | handicapper. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-i-k-n-p-p-r" | |
-1 letter: kidnaper. | |
-2 letters: knapped, knapper, nappier, pardine, pranked, prepaid, prinked, ranpike. | |
-3 letters: append, daiker, danker, dapper, darken, denari, diaper, dipper, kidnap, kinder, kipped, kippen, kipper, kirned, napped, napper, nappie, narked, nipped, nipper, paiked, pained, paired, pander, panier, pardie, parked, pinder, pinked, pinker, rained, ranked, rapine, rapped, rappen, repaid, repand, ripped. | |
-4 letters: aider, aired, arpen, deair. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-i-k-n-p-p-r" | |
+1 letter: kidnappers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Spoken | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
