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Brit. /
rans(
)m/, U.S. /rænsm/ Forms: 
. ME ranscon, ME ranscun, ME ransoun, ME ransounne, ME ranssun, ME ransun, ME raunceon, ME raunceoun, ME rauncon, ME raunsene, ME raunsone, ME raunsoun, ME ravnson, ME rawnnsun, ME rawnson, ME rawnsone, ME rawsonne (transmission error), ME-15 ranson, ME-15 raunson; Sc. pre-17 rannson, pre-17 ranson, pre-17 ransone, pre-17 ransoun, pre-17 ransown, pre-17 ransson, pre-17 raunsoun, pre-17 ravnson, pre-17 rawnsoun, pre-17 rawnssown.
. ME ransoum, ME raunsomme, ME raunsum, ME raunsumme, ME rawnsem, ME rawnsum, ME (18 Eng. regional (Yorks.)) ransum, ME-15 rawnsom, ME-16 ransome, ME-16 raunsom, ME-16 raunsome, 15- ransom, 16 randsome, 17 randsom; Sc. pre-17 ransoum, pre-17 17- ransom.
. ME rampson, ME raumson, ME raumsoun, 15 ramsion, 15 ramson.
. lME rampsoum, lME raumsom.Also past tense ME raunsede (transmission error), ME raunseued (transmission error), lME raunsounnde. [Probably partly < RANSOM n. and partly < Anglo-Norman raunceoner, raunçonner, raunsoner, raunsonner, raunsouner, Anglo-Norman and Middle French rançonner to free from imprisonment in return for a payment (1262 in Old French), to pay a ransom for (first half of the 14th cent. in Anglo-Norman), to extort a sum of money from (1377-80; French rançonner) < rançon RANSOM n. Compare post-classical Latin ransonare, raunsonare, rauncionare (from 1377 in British sources), Old Occitan rezemsonar to hold to ransom. Compare also Italian ranzonare (second half of the 17th cent.; < French), and also Dutch rantsoenen (16th cent.), Middle Low German ranz
nen, German 
ranzionen (16th cent.), ranzionieren (17th cent.; now rare).
In Middle English prefixed and unprefixed forms of the past participle are attested (see Y- prefix).]
1. trans.
a. Theol. To deliver (a person, mankind, a soul, etc.) from sin, damnation, etc.; to redeem. Esp. with reference to the Passion of Christ.
c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring
Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) xxv. 11 Raunceoun me [L.
redime me], Lord, and haue mercy on me.
a1400 (
a1325)
Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 9784 If godd had wroght
ano
er man For to ransun wit adam.
a1400 (
a1325)
Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 14437 He sent his sun..To ranscun [
a1400 Gött. ranson;
a1400 Trin. Cambr. raumsoun;
a1400 Fairf. ransoum] all
at yode to hell.
?a1450 in C. von Nolcken
Middle Eng. Transl. Rosarium Theol. (1979) 94 Criste had
e drede
yno
at bot [or] ravnsoned
e wi e prise of his ovne blode
a1500 (?
c1414)
Paraphr. Seven Penitential Psalms 28 Cryist..deyid up on the rood To raunsoun synfull creature.
1557 Bible (
Geneva
)
Epistle **j, He was solde to ransom vs.
1593 A. WILLET Tetrastylon Papisticum II. 58 He then that reconcileth, ransometh or redeemeth vs, what is he else but an agent efficient, & working cause of our redemption & reconciliation?
1638 R. B
RAITHWAIT Psalmes of David II. 92 God shall ransome and receive My soule from hand of Hell.
1667 MILTON Paradise Lost III. 297 His Brethren, ransomd with his own dear life.
1710 A. R
IGGE Constancy in Truth Commended 136 For what end did he lay down his life? Was it to ransom Man from Sin, or no?
1785 W. COWPER Tirocinium in
Task 128 We..learn with wonder how this world began, Who made, who marr'd, and who has ransom'd man.
1800 T. C
ARBRY tr. A. Valsecchi
Found. Relig. II. xvii. 554 Let us turn our eyes to Christ..and the abundant redemption, which ransomed human nature.
1879 F. R. H
AVERGAL Under his Shadow in
Poet. Wks. (1884) II. 360 O Saviour, hast Thou ransomed us from death's unknown abyss?
1936 Mod. Lang. Rev. 31 169 The appeal to Christ on the cross is very fine, but Ixion and Tantalus, Charon and Cerberus, come in strangely as symbols of the death from which He has ransomed us.
1994 Homiletic & Pastoral Rev. Feb. 36 The total self-giving of the Word made flesh to ransom us from sin and death.
b. To obtain the release or return of (a person) or the restoration of (a thing) by paying a certain sum; to redeem from captivity or punishment. Also in extended use.
a1382 Bible (
Wycliffite, E.V.
)
(Bodl. 959) (1961) Deut. xiii. 5
e lord..
ha raunsomed [L.
redemit]
ow fro
e hous of seruage.
a1387 J. TREVISA tr. R. Higden
Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) VI. 211 Withbrandes..raunsoned [
v.r. raunsede]
e relikes of seint Austyn.
?c1450 (?
a1400)
WYCLIF Eng. Wks. (1880) 365
o ingis at wer offrid to god in
e temple..weren kept fro
e use of
at kynrede to
e comon profete of alle
e peple, as to
e repaire of
e temple, and to rawnson
e kynge and
e rewme at nede.
1488 (
c1478) H
ARY Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.)
VIII. l. 452 Quha
eildis him, sall neuir ransownd be.
1513 Galway Arch. in
10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App.
V. 395 That no dweller of this towne become suertie for no gent of the countrey, ne ramson none of them.
1594 T. NASHE Vnfortunate Traveller sig. K2
v, Saue her, kil me, & Ile ransome her with a thousand duckets.
1624 J. SMITH Gen. Hist. Virginia VI. 215 Their Canowes..they ransomed for Beuer skinnes.
1667 T. SPRAT Hist. Royal-Soc. 434 To randsome the minds of all mankind from Slavery.
1693 H. H
IGDEN Wary Widdow IV. 39, I have been in a storm when to lighten the Ship we have threw Gold and Silver overboard by whole-Sale, as much as would have ransom'd the King.
1720 D. DEFOE Capt. Singleton 211 If he would ransom the Ship, we would take a Sum of Money, and let them go.
1759 JOHNSON Prince of Abissinia II. xxxvi. 71 The princess was in extasies when she heard that her favourite was alive, and might so cheaply be ransomed.
1819 SCOTT Ivanhoe III. ii. 53 Speak,
Jew
have I not ransomed thee from Sathanas?
1868 E. A. FREEMAN Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) II. viii. 280 His wife ransomed him at a heavy price.
1919 W. S. D
AVIS Hist. France xxiv. 524 The first great task was to pay off the Germans. There were grave doubts as to the ability of France to discharge the debt and to ransom her soil.
1992 N.Y. Times Mag. 28 June 44/4 He has a hearty appetite for covert operations, as Oliver North understood when he got Perot to front money to ransom hostages held in Beirut.
c. Chiefly poet. To atone or pay for, to expiate; to bring into a state or condition by these means. Also: to procure respite of (time). Obs.
a1400 (
a1325)
Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 14427 He suld flexs take o
air kin For to ranscun [
a1400 Trin. Cambr. raumson] wit adam sin.
c1480 (
a1400)
St. George 77 in W. M. Metcalfe
Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 178 To ransone
e tyme & to sauf
ame fra his venyme.
1609 SHAKESPEARE Sonnets xxxiv. sig. C4, Those teares..are ritch, and ransome all ill deeds.
a1616 SHAKESPEARE Othello (1622)
III. iv. 116 Neither seruice past, nor present sorrowes,..Can ransome me, into his loue againe.
1637 T. NABBES Hannibal & Scipio I. i. sig. B2, Were I an Hanniball..One Capua should ransome all.
1787 A. H
AWKINS tr. V. Mignot
Hist. Turkish Empire I. 322 In Turkey there is no crime but may be ransomed for money.
1796 T. JEFFERSON Writings (1859) IV. 152 Its moments of extasy would be ransomed by years of torment and hatred.
1854 J. HOWE Passion-flowers 77 On, brethren, draw the sword, Loose the bold tongue and pen, unfearing, The weakness of our human flesh Is ransomed by your persevering?
d. To purchase (life, liberty, etc.) with a ransom.
1567 W. PAINTER Palace of Pleasure II. xxx. f. 356, Ah y
t my life might raunsome thine.
1596 R. JOHNSON Most Famous Hist. Seauen Champions Christendome xiv. 137 Most mighie & inuincible Champion of Christendome (quoth he) let my life be ransomed, and thou shalt yearely receaue ten tunnes of tried gold.
1630 T. DEKKER Second Pt. Honest Whore V. ii. 126 If my poore life May ransome thine, I yeeld it to the Law.
1697 W. DAMPIER New Voy. around World iv. 75 The men..made them send ashore for Cattle to ransom their Liberties.
1720 C. N
ARY New Hist. World VIII. iii. 423 The Gauls..forc'd them [
sc. the Romans] to Capitulate for their Lives, and ransom the same at the Price of a vast Weight of Gold.
1783 A. FERGUSON Hist. Progress & Termination Rom. Republic III. iv. 171 Many persons were threatened, to induce them to ransom their lives with money.
1801 Lusignan III. 82 The design she had long meditated..of endeavouring to ransom his liberty.
1856 M. J. R
APHALL Post-biblical Hist. Jews I. 282 He ransomed his life and liberty by releasing a great number of the Jewish inhabitants of Galilee whom he had made captive.
1907 Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. 3rd Ser.
1 82 Thus for the second time had Caesar ransomed his life for money.
1996 I. E
ARLS Baroque Art 269 The monastic order that would have ransomed his freedom.
e. To pay a ransom to. Obs. rare
1.
1722 CAPT. OGLE in London Gaz. No. 6091/2, An English Ship, for refusing to ransom the Pyrates had been burnt.
2. trans.
a. To demand a ransom for (a captive); to permit the release or return of (a person or thing) on payment of a sum of money; to set free on receipt of a ransom. Also: to set (a person's) ransom at a certain sum (obs.).
Also occas. intr.
1398 in J. Slater
Early Scots Texts (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Edinb.) (1952) No. 38, Qwha sa beis fondin culpable..sal be deliuerit to the partie that has sustenit the schath to sla or ravnson at thair likyng.
1413-19 in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt
Bk. London Eng. (1931) 226 Sir Richard and his Officers claymed and toke oon Julian Lampit..and helde hire in prisoune tille he had raunsommed her to an c s.
1441 in H. Nicolas
Proc. & Ordinances Privy Council (1835) V. 319 Your ennemy..put him in grete duresse..and rampsoumed him at c. marc.
1489 (
a1380)
J. BARBOUR Bruce (Adv.)
II. 469 Off other that war takyn than Sum thai ransownyt sum thai slew.
a1513 R. FABYAN New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) II. f. xxxii
v, That he were streyght put in pryson, and not to be raunsomyd nor delyuered tyll the Kyngys pleasure were forther knowen.
a1578 R. LINDSAY Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 228 Stewin Bull ranssonat the skiparis, and held money of the marienaris presonaris.
1599 N. BRETON Wil of Wit III. i, in
Wks. (1879) 37/2 The souldiours entred, slewe a number, some they raunsommed.
1611 R. COTGRAVE Dict. French & Eng. Tongues, Faire war, wherein souldiers are taken prisoners and ransomed at a certaine rate.
a1640 J. FLETCHER &
P. MASSINGER Custome of Countrey (1647)
I. i. 1 When a maid is contracted And ready for the tye o'th Church, the Governour, He that commands in chiefe, must have her maiden-head Or ransome it for mony at his pleasure.
1693 E. B
OHUN Char. Queen Elizabeth 194 The Heer Van Dolhain..in that year took, and spoiled, and ransomed many Ships.
1720 J. DENNIS Invader of his Country I. i. 5 Condemning some to Death, and some to Exile; Ransoming some, some pitying, threatning others.
1790 R. BEATSON Naval & Mil. Mem. III. 111 The Richmond of thirty-two guns, commanded by Captain Elphinstone..received intelligence, on the 23rd of January, of a French frigate, that had the day before taken an English vessel, and ransomed her.
1819 SCOTT Ivanhoe II. v. 81 Who is it that rifle, and ransom, and make prisoners, in these forests?
1869 W. E. H. LECKY Hist. European Morals II. i. 83 Epaminondas was accustomed to ransom captives.
1907 Jrnl. Royal Afr Soc. 6 243 Ingesha, another leader, was captured and afterwards ransomed for 400 head of cattle.
1951 Proc. Amer. Acad. Jewish Res. 20 223 For the rule where a
statuliber was captured and ransomed, and had to pay 10,000 sesterces for his liberty, cf. [etc.].
1987 Internat. Combat Arms Sept. 41/3 Salvadoran terrorists abducted and later ransomed five foreign businessmen for reported ransoms of at least $18 million.
b. In early use: to exact or extort payment or ransom from (cf. RANSOM n. 2a); (hence) to oppress by exacting money (obs.). Now chiefly: to exert power over by making a threat or withholding something; ‘to hold to ransom’ (cf. RANSOM n. Phrases (b)). Also intr.
?a1425 Orcherd of Syon (Harl 3432) 31 Sumtyme by extorcyoun, by lordschip, sumtyme
oru fraude and bigilynge or
wi disceyt,
ei raunsome hem and take of her good.
c1440 (?
a1400)
Morte Arthure 100 Thow has redyn and raymede and raunsound
e pople.
1525 LD. BERNERS tr. J. Froissart
Chron. II. 3 All suche landes as he had rule of, he raunsomed them..greuously, and wolde taxe the men two or three tymes in a yere.
1590 J. SMYTHE Certain Disc. Weapons 7 b, By fleecing and ransoming of their soldiers being men of wealth.
1622 M. DRAYTON Second Pt. Poly-olbion II. xxii. 39 Then [Cade] goodly London tooke, There ransoming some rich.
1657 W. PRYNNE Pendennis & All Other Standing Forts Dismantled 17 They are more frequently visited, Plundred, spoiled, captivated, fined, ransomed by the Enemy upon all advantages and occasions.
1749 J. CLELAND Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 214 Besides that, she never ransomed her customers..she was a severe enemy to the seduction of innocence.
1865 T. CARLYLE Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia VI.
XXI. ii. 362 Noble and Peasant had been pillaged, ransomed, foraged, eaten out by so many different Armies.
1999 Coventry Evening Tel. (Nexis) 2 July 1 We've made offers to these landowners and tenants which are all in excess of the commercial value. They have chosen not to accept them on the grounds that presumably they think they can ransom us to try to obtain higher values than the sites are actually worth.
3. intr. To pay ransom; to obtain the release of a captive or of captured property by making a payment.
1722 C
APT. O
GLE in
London Gaz. No. 6091/2, They had all ransomed at the Rate of eight Pounds Weight of Gold each.
1758 G. G. B
EEKMAN Let. 17 Feb. in
Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 323 We have given Captain Gillis Orders to Ransom, Provided he Can git both Vessel and Cargo for One thousand pounds Sterling.
a1845 J. H
ASKINS Poet. Wks. (1848) 43 A mighty conqueror was on his way, To
ransomto redeem.
1991 W. K. P
RITCHETT Greek State at War V. 253 Plutarch says that the senate refused to ransom.
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