(n.) A certain rate of money, corn, cattle, or other thing, anciently paid, in the north of England and south of Scotland, to certain men who were allied to robbers, or moss troopers, to be by them protected from pillage.
(n.) Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation; also, extortion of money from a person by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure.
(n.) Black rent, or rent paid in corn, flesh, or the lowest coin, a opposed to "white rent", which paid in silver.
(v. t.) To extort money from by exciting fears of injury other than bodily harm, as injury to reputation, distress of mind, etc.; as, to blackmail a merchant by threatening to expose an alleged fraud.
Example Sentences:
(1) Gough, as the degenerate black sheep of an English family trying to blackmail an American adulterer, would curl a long lip into a sneering smile, which became a characteristic of this fine actor's style.
(2) Galloway accused Shah of lying about how old she was when she claimed to have been “emotionally blackmailed” into marrying a cousin in Pakistan.
(3) Deschamps said: “It’s not that I don’t have confidence in Morgan, I know what he can do, but before making final decisions [on the Euro 2016 squad] it’s important that N’Golo comes with us to get more answers.” Benzema’s lawyer has previously protested his innocence, saying: “He played no part, I repeat no part, in any blackmail or attempted blackmail,” but Deschamps has passed up the opportunity to bring him back into the squad, perhaps feeling the political heat.
(4) In a statement, the committee denied Podliska’s accusations and said it “will not be blackmailed into a monetary settlement for a false allegation made by a properly terminated former employee”.
(5) It is not clear if Iran received any of these items but a confidential cable released by WikiLeaks appears to show that the head of Iran's drug control department blackmailed the UNODC's representative by suggesting that if the agency did not meet the wishes of Iran, the Islamic republic might "reconsider the scope of its own efforts against the traffickers".
(6) In Romania in October a man was subsequently charged with producing and distributing indecent images of children and blackmail.
(7) On the other hand, we are very generous, open, positive to UK citizens.” During the debate, MEPs repeatedly cited the rows over claims that May had tried to blackmail the EU by threatening to weaken security cooperation and the comments made by the former Tory leader, Michael Howard , suggesting the UK would go to war over Gibraltar.
(8) I will not give in to blackmail, but should I tell my sister of this latest development?
(9) This week we see that the ramifications of corporate prostitution continue to hurt her as juniors (looking at you, Harry Crane) use the knowledge of what happened to both blackmail the company and denigrate her.
(10) In 2008, Weatherup gave evidence at the trial of Ian Strachan and Sean McGuigan, two men jailed for surreptitiously recording then blackmailing a royal family member over gay sex claims and drug-taking.
(11) Bankers threatening to quit the City because of European bonus guidelines are committing "blackmail", a top European Union official said .
(12) There’s quite a hidden LGBT element in terms of revenge porn,” adds Noone, who says attackers will sometimes threaten to post pictures “outing” someone to family and friends unless blackmail demands are met.
(13) This prevents any investigation of the true background of those who his client claims are international blackmailers.
(14) David Cameron was accused on Sunday of blackmail and threats as his attempts to stop Jean-Claude Juncker becoming president of the European commission put him at the centre of a power struggle for control of the European Union.
(15) The rhetoric coming from Athens is as heated, where there is talk of European “blackmail” against the free will of Greek voters, as if Europe’s creditor nations don’t have voters of their own.
(16) The volte face was a result of Russian blackmail, the Lithuanian president's office said as senior officials in Brussels said Yanukovych was sacrificing the hopes and wishes of most of his countrymen on the altar of Russian money and contracts.
(17) We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States,” Patrick told reporters.
(18) In a previous judgment, the judge referred to suggestions of blackmail, but police have not apparently been involved in the civil case.
(19) The Big Brother star who is battling to overturn a high court gagging order brought by a Premier League footballer denied accusations that she attempted to blackmail the player.
(20) There were isolated portrayals of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters, but you had to look for them – Dirk Bogarde's 1961 film Victim, about a barrister taking on blackmailers; John Hurt as The Naked Civil Servant in 1975; and an episode of Crown Court a year later, about a gay transvestite entrapped by a policeman.
Shakedown
Definition:
(n.) A temporary substitute for a bed, as one made on the floor or on chairs; -- perhaps originally from the shaking down of straw for this purpose.
Example Sentences:
(1) Mexican drug cartels have been waging an increasingly bloody war to control smuggling routes, the local drug market and extortion rackets, including shakedowns of migrants seeking to reach the United States.
(2) But I want to talk about The Wire , which to my shame I came to somewhat late, despite the fact that Michael K Williams [who plays shakedown artist Omar in The Wire ] and I are both in Boardwalk together [Williams plays nightclub owner and gangster Chalky White].
(3) Goodwin was a well-known rascal at the Old Bailey, where a prosecution counsel had accused him of being “Mr Fixit”, although he was better known elsewhere as “The Face”; he famously caught out and exposed a bent cop who wanted money from him by hiding a tape-recorder in a Christmas tree at his home where the shakedown took place.
(4) There is no doubt that a massive shakedown is under way.
(5) Mike Kelly, head of modern languages at the University of Southampton, says: “Every university is going to be looking at its portfolio of subjects over the next year and I think there are going to be various shakedowns.
(6) Suggestions that Australia spied on Timor-Leste during the resources negotiations were first raised in Shakedown , a book about the grab for Timor oil written by journalist Paul Cleary – a former adviser to the Timor-Leste government who now writes for the Australian.
(7) If they don't, we'll know where the Googles, Facebooks, Amazons and such actually stand – waiting to see if they can profit more by collaborating with the telecom companies' ongoing shakedown of middlemen and content providers (above and beyond their already overpriced "consumer" service).
(8) Ghanaian team-mates followed the strutting-cockerel steps of Asamoah Gyan for a Colombia-style shakedown.
(9) The test was part of what the navy calls a demonstration and shakedown operation, essentially an MOT, and was the final examination for HMS Vengeance after completing its refit.
(10) He called an escrow account established for victims of the Gulf of Mexico BP oil spill a “ Chicago-style political shakedown ”.
(11) All for orchestrating an upbeat shakedown that stoked the hopes of another host, only to leave the public bearing the costs.
(12) The company had its service slowed by ISPs as they negotiated fees – a move Oliver described as having “all the ingredients of a Mob shakedown” .
(13) There was a routine shakedown and demonstration that HMS Vengeance passed with flying colours.
(14) "First it blocks your ads, and then asks for money to unblock them" “‘Shakedown’, ‘racketeering’ and ‘extortion’ are common terms publishers we've spoken with have used in relation to [Adblock Plus’s] ‘acceptable ads’,” says Sean Blanchfield of PageFair .
(15) Raids were not uncommon, but they usually consisted of a shakedown and a few arrests by cops from the local precinct.
(16) He said that deterrent sentences were to be expected for those who commit acts of violence or theft of valuable items but added: "There will be a shakedown of the less serious cases although all forms of looting and rioting are going to attract greater sentences.
(17) As both our allies and enemies had known about the misfire for months, how come it was we Brits who were the last to know about it?” “HMS Vengeance successfully completed a shakedown and demonstration and came home safely,” said Fallon, having long since switched to his own faulty telemetry.