CAPTIVE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Captive

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/kˈæptɪv/ Listen

adjective

Captive adj.

Made prisoner, especially in war; held in bondage or in confinement. "A poor, miserable, captive thrall."

Subdued by love; charmed; captivated. "Even in so short a space, my wonan's heart Grossly grew captive to his honey words."

Of or pertaining to bondage or confinement; serving to confine; as, captive chains; captive hours.

noun

Captive n.

A prisoner taken by force or stratagem, esp., by an enemy, in war; one kept in bondage or in the power of another. "Then, when I am thy captive, talk of chains."

One charmed or subdued by beaty, excellence, or affection; one who is captivated.

verb

Captive v. t. (past & past part. captived; pres. part. captiving) To take prisoner; to capture. "Their inhabitans slaughtered and captived."

See images of 'Captive'

Etymology of 'Captive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Captive" Quotes from Famous Books

... occurred the unusual spectacle of "captive Greece taking captive her rude conqueror," and spreading Greek art, literature, philosophy, science, and Greek ideas throughout the Mediterranean world. It was the Greek higher learning that now became predominant and exerted such great influence on the ...

— THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION • ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY

... is much the largest of any, built at the expense of the captive King of France; as it stands higher, so it greatly excels the two former in splendour and elegance; it has one hundred and forty-eight paces in length, and ninety-seven in breadth; in the middle of it is a fountain of very clear water, brought under ground, at ...

— Travels in England and Fragmenta Regalia • Paul Hentzner and Sir Robert Naunton

... it is less certain that he will enter its chief city in state. His next work was rather in the nature of annexation and invasion than a settling of his own realms. "Prince Otto" is not, to my mind, a ruler in his proper soil. The provinces of George Sand and of Mr. George Meredith have been taken captive. "Prince Otto" is fantastic indeed, but neither the fantasy nor the style is quite Mr. Stevenson's. There are excellent passages, and the Scotch soldier of fortune is welcome, and the ladies abound in subtlety ...

— Essays in Little • Andrew Lang

... head of a conquered people by the Hindoos, or the shearing the royal locks of the ancient Frankish kings; the blinding of one eye of their slaves by the old Scythians, or crippling one foot by the division of a tendon in a captive by the Goths, he considers as on the same line with the idea that led to castration, the different ...

— History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present - Moral and Physical Reasons for its Performance • Peter Charles Remondino

... themselves to the drama and becoming actors. Only one has come down to us by name: the celebrated Alityros in Rome, the favorite of Emperor Nero and his wife Poppaea. Josephus speaks of him as "a player, and a Jew, well favored by Nero." When the Jewish historian landed at Puteoli, a captive, Alityros presented him to the empress, who secured his liberation. Beyond a doubt, the Jewish beaux esprits of Rome warmly supported the theatre; indeed, Roman satirists levelled their shafts against the zeal displayed in the service ...

— Jewish Literature and Other Essays • Gustav Karpeles

More quotes...