hold to ransom

hold somebody to ransom

to force someone to do something by putting them in a situation where something bad will happen to them if they do not Some people regarded the miners' strike as the union holding the nation to ransom.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Sadaf	-	Arabic
Prabodh	-	Indian, Hindi
Francis	['fra:nsis]
Baldric	BAWLD-rik	English (Archaic)
Whitaker	['hwitəkə(r)]
Zorka	-	Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian