[ˈhɒstɪdʒ], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a person seized or held as security for the fulfilment of a condition
(e.g: three hostages were released but only after their families paid an estimated $200,000 to the guerrillas)


Phrases:
- hold someone hostage
- hostage to fortune

Origin:
Middle English: from Old French, based on late Latin obsidatus ‘the state of being a hostage’ (the earliest sense in English), from Latin obses, obsid- ‘hostage’