What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Ransom vs Boon - What's the difference?

ransom | boon |

As nouns the difference between ransom and boon

is that ransom is money paid for the freeing of a hostage while boon is (obsolete) a prayer; petition or boon can be the woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

As a verb ransom

is to deliver, especially in context of sin or relevant penalties.

As an adjective boon is

(obsolete) good; prosperous; as, "boon voyage".

ransom

English

(wikipedia ransom)

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)

    Usage notes

    * (term) is much more common in the US, (to) in the UK.

    Derived terms

    * king's ransom

    Verb

  • To deliver, especially in context of sin or relevant penalties.
  • To pay a price to set someone free from captivity or punishment.
  • to ransom prisoners from an enemy
  • To exact a ransom for, or a payment on.
  • Such lands as he had rule of he ransomed them so grievously, and would tax the men two or three times in a year. — Berners.

    See also

    * bail

    References

    Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition 1997

    Anagrams

    * * * * *

    boon

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A prayer; petition.
  • * :
  • For which to God he made so many an idle boon
  • (archaic) That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a favour; benefaction; a grant; a present.
  • * :
  • Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above
  • * 1872 , (James De Mille), The Cryptogram :
  • I gave you life. Can you not return the boon by giving me death, my lord?
  • A good; a blessing or benefit; a great privilege; a thing to be thankful for.
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.
  • An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.
  • Synonyms
    * blessing * benefit
    Antonyms
    * bane

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) boon, bone, from .

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) good; prosperous; as, "boon voyage"
  • kind; bountiful; benign
  • * Milton
  • Which Nature boon / Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.
  • gay; merry; jovial; convivial
  • * Arbuthnot
  • a boon companion, loving his bottle
  • * Episode 16
  • --No, Mr Bloom repeated again, I wouldn't personally repose much trust in that boon companion of yours who contributes the humorous element, if I were in your shoes.
    Quotations
    * Which ... Nature boon Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain — * A boon companion, loving his bottle —

    Etymology 3

    From Gaelic and Irish via Scots.

    Noun

    (-)
  • The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.
  • (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * * ----