Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Kidnap

Kid′nap′ (kĭd′năp′), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Kidnaped (- năpt′) or Kidnapped; p. pr. & vb. n. Kidnaping or Kidnapping.] [Kid a child + Prov. E. nap to seize, to grasp. Cf. Knab, Knap, Nab.] To take (any one) by force or fear, and against one's will, with intent to carry to another place. Abbott.

You may reason or expostulate with the parents, but never attempt to kidnap their children, and to make proselytes of them. Whately.

☞ Originally used only of stealing children, but now extended in application to any human being, involuntarily abducted.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.