▪ I. captive, a. and n.
(ˈkæptɪv)
Also 4–5 captif(e, -yfe, 6– yue.
[a. F. captif, -ive, ad. L. captīv-us taken prisoner, a prisoner, f. capt-us taken: see -ive. Cf. caitiff.]
A. adj. (In early use, and in many phrases, the adj. and n. are hardly separable.)
1. a. Taken prisoner in war, or by force; kept in confinement or bondage.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 333 Stocked in prison..Captive to cruell king Agamemnon. 1535 Coverdale Ezra x. 6 Put out from the congregacion of the captiue. 1611 Bible 2 Macc. viii. 10 To make so much money of the captiue Iewes. a 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. i. 511 Nor hopes the captive lord his liberty. 1855 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. iv. (1878) 128 Kings were captive in England's capital. |
b. transf. Said of animals caught and kept in confinement, e.g. a captive lark; also of things restrained from escaping, as a captive balloon.
| 1855 Househ. Words XI. 150/2 Pilâtre de Rosier..had already the honour of being the first man who ascended..in a captive balloon. 1897 Aeronaut. Jrnl. Jan. 5/2 My own apparatus..is simply a system of large kites only for captive use. Ibid., My present object is to get an apparatus to serve instead of a captive balloon. 1939 G. Greene Lawless Roads x. 251 The twenty-four churches rose like captive balloons. |
c. to lead captive, take captive, hold captive: perh. this was orig. the n., as in to take prisoner, but it remains unchanged in the pl.
| [1382 Wyclif 2 Chron. xxx. 9 Their lordis that hem laddyn caityf.] 1535 Coverdale Jer. xxii. 11 In the place, where vnto he is led captyue. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 32 Many led captiue for triumph. 1611 Bible Gen. xiv. 14 His brother was taken captiue. 1806 A. Knox Rem. I. 33 Temptations by which..we were led captive. 1884 Gustafson Found. Death i. (ed. 3) 4 Setting free the waters they had held captive. |
d. captive audience: an audience of captives; esp. in extended use, an audience that cannot escape a particular form of entertainment or instruction. orig. U.S.
| 1902 W. D. Howells Lit. & Life 57 It was on a Sunday that we crouched in an irregular semicircle..within the prison pale, and faced the captive audience in another semicircle. 1949 in Amer. Speech (1951) XXVI. 208/1 It [tram radio] gives a radio station what is referred to in less polite circles as a ‘captive’ audience. 1956 A. Huxley Adonis & Alphabet 119 If they [sc. publishers]..possess a large enough captive audience for their text-books to be able to implement their good intentions. 1956 Kenyon Rev. XVIII. 463 The captive audience of the class-room. 1959 Thurber Years with Ross v. 82 The captive audiences in Grand Central Station, where passengers had been forced to listen to broadcast commercials. 1966 Listener 2 June 785/2 We must be especially careful with a captive audience. No airline would inflict a stream of dirty stories..on the helpless passengers on a long-distance journey. 1970 B. W. Aldiss Hand-reared Boy 42, I cannot remember a word she said, being merely a captive audience and bored with the whole visit. |
e. Applied to a mine that supplies its products only to commercial concerns under the same ownership, i.e. not to the open market. U.S.
| 1924 Min. Resources U.S. 1922 II. 546 It was not possible, however, to distinguish..between the output of commercial mines and the output of the ‘captive mines’ owned or controlled by consumers. 1948 Economist 10 July 59/2 The steel companies which operate ‘captive’ coal mines. |
2. fig. Captivated, enslaved in will and feeling.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. i. 80 My Womans heart, Grossely grew captiue to his honey words. 1601 ― All's Well v. iii. 17 Whose words all eares took captiue. |
3. Of or belonging to a captive.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 49 That he my captive languor should redeeme. 1671 Milton Samson 1603, I sorrowed at his captive state. |
¶ 4. Used for caitiff a. or n.
| 1634 Malory's Arthur (1816) II. 239, I am the most wretch and captive of the world. |
B. n.
1. a. A person taken prisoner, in war, or by brigands or savages; one taken and held in confinement.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1580 To comone with his captifis fore covatys of silver. 1494 Fabyan iv. lxvii. 45 To be a Captyue or a prysoner to y⊇ Romaynes. 1611 Bible Dan. ii. 25 A man of the captiues of Iudah. 1713 Young Force Relig. i. (1757) 53 But whither is the captive borne away, The beauteous captive, from the chearful day? |
| fig. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxvi, And captiue-good attending Captaine ill. |
b. transf. Said of an animal or thing.
| 1820 Hoyle's Games Impr. 313 He [a piece at draughts] becomes king and is crowned by placing one of the captives upon him. 1885 Pall Mall G. 7 Feb. 3/2 The balloon committee at Chatham is only busy with ‘captives’. |
2. fig. One captivated or enslaved by beauty, personal influence, or the like.
| 1732 Lansdowne Beauty & Law (R.) The fairest of the sex complain Of captives lost, and loves invok'd in vain. |
C. Comb. captive-like a. and adv.
| 1583 T. Watson Poems lxxiii. (Arb.) 109 The winged boy..led him captiuelyke from all delight. |
▪ II. captive, v. arch.
(ˈkæptɪv)
[a. F. captive-r (15th c.):—L. captīvāre, f. captīv-us captive a.
In very common use in 16–18th c.; rare in 19th. Orig. pronounced capˈtīve, as still in Milton; but ˈcaptĭve, used by Shakes., and frequent in 17th c., alone survives.]
To take captive, bring into captivity: a. lit.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (1840) 38 Thei hym captived, whereby he was y-lore. 1596 H. Clapham Briefe Bible i. 91 Tiglath Pileeser had before tyme captived them [the Israelites]. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iv. 55 When Cressy battell fatally was strucke, And all our princes captiu'd. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. ii. (1852) App. 217 They butchered and captived many of the inhabitants. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. 1842 I. 8 And their inhabitants slaughtered, and captived. 1828 W. Taylor Surv. Germ. Poetry I. 300 Thusnelda has been captived by the Romans. |
b. fig. To captivate, enthrall (the understanding, reason, affections, will, etc.).
| 1528 More Heresyes i. Wks. 169/1 To captiue and subdewe oure vnderstandyng. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 142 b, Freewill being captived hath no power to worke anything but sinne. a 1595 Southwell Peter's Compl., O women! woe to men; traps for their falls..Earth's necessary ills, captiving thralls. c 1605 Rowley Birth Merl. ii. ii. 305 That face..Captiv'd my senses. 1640 Bastwick Lord Bps. ii. B ij b, Captiving them with manyfold ceremonies. c 1720 Prior (J.) How she the vagrant might inthral, And captive him, who captives all. 1761 Churchill Rosciad (R.) If music..Captives the ear. |
Hence ˈcaptived ppl. a., ˈcaptiving ppl. a., etc.
| 1591 Horsey Trav. (1857) 182 To by and redeme divers..of those captived people. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iii. i. 2 But the captiv'd Acrasia he sent..a nigher way. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. I. i. xvii. 79 The Philistins placed the Captived Arke in Dagon's Temple. 1671 Milton Samson 33. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 125 My captiv'd fancy. 1798 Monthly Mag. VI. 99 The captived king Zedekiah. |