verb (used with or without object), noun
verb (used with object)
- to steal (cargo) from a truck or other vehicle after forcing it to stop: to hijack a load of whiskey.
- to rob (a vehicle) after forcing it to stop: They hijacked the truck before it entered the city.
- to seize (a vehicle) by force or threat of force.
- to skyjack.
verb (used without object)
- to engage in such stealing or seizing.
noun
- an act or instance or hijacking.
verb, noun
- a less common spelling of hijack
verb
- (tr) to seize, divert, or appropriate (a vehicle or the goods it carries) while in transitto hijack an aircraft
- to rob (a person or vehicle) by forceto hijack a traveller
- (esp in the US during Prohibition) to rob (a bootlegger or smuggler) of his illicit goods or to steal (illicit goods) in transit
noun
- the act or an instance of hijacking
1922, American English, perhaps from high(way) + jacker “one who holds up.” Originally “to rob (a bootlegger, smuggler, etc.) in transit;” sense of “seizing an aircraft in flight” is 1968 (also in 1961 variant skyjack), extended 1970s to any form of public transportation. Related: Hijacked; hijacking.