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Ransom vs Transom - What's the difference?

ransom | transom |

As nouns the difference between ransom and transom

is that ransom is money paid for the freeing of a hostage while transom is a crosspiece over a door; a lintel.

As a verb ransom

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

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

    * * * * *

    transom

    English

    (wikipedia transom)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A crosspiece over a door; a lintel.
  • A horizontal dividing bar in a window.
  • A transom window.
  • (nautical) Any of several transverse structural members in a ship, especially at the stern; a thwart.
  • (nautical) The flat or nearly flat stern of a boat or ship.
  • The horizontal beam on a cross or gallows.
  • (figuratively, usually, attributively) Items that have arrived over the transom.
    • We are overwhelmed with transom resumes.
    They only met the deadline by working most of the night and making a transom filing.

    Synonyms

    * (small hinged window above door) fanlight

    Derived terms

    * over the transom * transom window, a hinged glassed frame above such a crossbar

    Anagrams

    *

    See also

    * fortochka