Noun

(wikipedia) (en noun)

(historical) A Hansom cab; a carriage

*

* {{quote-book, year=1905, author=

, title= , chapter=1 citation , passage=“There the cause of death was soon ascertained?; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom . […]”}}

* {{quote-book, year=1931, author=

, title=Death Walks in Eastrepps , chapter=6/4 citation , passage=The ghost of Selby stirred in him. His thoughts slipped back to the day when he had stolen from his well-appointed office to a waiting hansom'—there had still been a good many ' hansoms in those days—and driven quickly to the docks.}}

Noun

(en-noun)

Money paid for the freeing of a hostage.

They were held for two million dollars ransom .

They were held to ransom .

* 1674 , , Paradise Lost , Book XII:

Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems.

* Sir J. Davies

His captivity in Austria, and the heavy ransom he paid for his liberty.

* 2010 , Caroline Alexander, The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad :

As rich as was the ransom Priam paid for Hektor, Hermes says, his remaining sons at Troy “'would give three times as much ransom / for you, who are alive, were Atreus' son Agamemnon / to recognize you.'”

The release of a captive, or of captured property, by payment of a consideration.

prisoners hopeless of ransom

(Dryden)

(historical, legal, UK) A sum paid for the pardon of some great offence and the discharge of the offender; also, a fine paid in lieu of corporal punishment.

(Blackstone)