Ransom

Ransom

Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved.

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Famous quotes containing the word ransom:

    “A boy not beautiful, nor good, nor clever,
    A black cloud full of storms too hot for keeping,
    A sword beneath his mother’s heart— yet never
    Woman bewept her babe as this is weeping.”
    —John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)

    “And the chieftain’s head, with grinning sockets, and varnished—
    Is it hung on the sky with a hideous epitaphy?
    No, the woman keeps the trophy.”
    —John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)

    “Tawny are the leaves turned, but they still hold.
    It is the harvest; what shall this land produce?
    A meager hill of kernels, a runnel of juice.
    Declension looks from our land, it is old.”
    —John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)