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   Hos·tage

   /ˈhästij/

   

   noun

   • 1. a person seized or held as security for the fulfillment of a condition: "three hostages were released but only after their families paid an estimated $200,000 to the guerrillas"

   Word Origin Middle English: from Old French, based on late Latin obsidatus ‘the state of being a hostage’ (the earliest sense in English), from Latin obses, obsid- ‘hostage’.

   Scrabble Points: 11

   • H

     4

   • O

     1

   • S

     1

   • T

     1

   • A

     1

   • G

     2

   • E

     1

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