a person who is captured and held prisoner by a person or group, and who may be injured or killed if people do not do what the person or group is asking 人质 Three children were taken hostage during the bank robbery. 在银行抢劫案中有三名儿童被扣为人质。 He was held hostage for almost a year. 他被扣为人质几近一年。 The government is negotiating the release of the hostages. 政府正就释放人质进行谈判。 The hijackers kept the pilot as a hostage on board the plane. 劫机者把飞行员作为人质留在飞机上。 The gunmen took 24 hostages. 持枪歹徒扣押了 24 名人质。 diplomatic efforts to get the hostages released 解救人质的外交努力
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + hostage- hold (somebody)
- keep (somebody)
- seize
- …
Word OriginMiddle 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’.
Idioms
a hostage to fortune
something that you have, or have promised to do, that could cause trouble or worry in the future 可能招惹麻烦(或担忧)的东西(或许诺);造成后患的事物