captor

English

Alternative forms

• captour (obsolete, rare)

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin captor, from Latin capiō. English usage began around 1688.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæptɚ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æptə(ɹ)

Noun

captor (plural captors)

1. One who is holding a captive or captives.
2. One who catches or has caught or captured something or someone.

Synonyms

• (one holding a captive): guard, jailer, kidnapper
• (one who catches someone or something): arrester, nabber

Translations

one who is holding a captive

• Czech: věznitel m
• German: Entführer (de) m
• Maori: kaihopu
• Portuguese: captor m
• Spanish: secuestrador (es) m
• Swedish: tillfångatagare c

one who has captured something or someone

• German: Fänger (de) m
• Old English: *fenġa m
• Portuguese: captor m
• Spanish: captor (es) m
• Swedish: tillfångatagare c

See also

• captee
• captive
• captivity

Anagrams

• cartop, proact

Latin

Etymology

From the verb capio (“I take, capture, seize”).

Verb

captor

1. first-person singular present passive indicative of captō

Noun

captor m (genitive captōris); third declension

1. who catches or captures
2. a captor
3. a hunter, huntsman

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	captor	captōrēs
Genitive	captōris	captōrum
Dative	captōrī	captōribus
Accusative	captōrem	captōrēs
Ablative	captōre	captōribus
Vocative	captor	captōrēs

Related terms

• captorius
• captura
• captus

Descendants

• Portuguese: captor
• Spanish: captor

References

• “captor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• captor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• captor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin captor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kabˈtoɾ/ [kaβ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: cap‧tor

Noun

captor m (plural captores, feminine captora, feminine plural captoras)

1. captor
   • 2015 July 17, “Dos detenidos por secuestrar a una joven por una deuda de drogas”, in El País‎^[1]:

     Los agentes pudieron rescatar a la mujer un día y medio más tarde, cuando sus captores la trasladaban en un vehículo.

     The police officers were able to rescue the woman a day and a half later, when her captors were transporting her in a vehicle.

Further reading

• “captor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014