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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
extort
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
try
▪ At first, she was threatened by local mafias, which tried to extort money.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ For years the gang extorted money from local storekeepers.
▪ He sought to extort money by threatening to reveal secrets about his boss's private life.
▪ The Mafia makes most of its money from prostitution and extorting money from small businesses.
▪ The terrorist groups have been extorting hundreds of millions of dollars.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But he can not extort blessings here.
▪ He was arrested by police, who he said, planted cannabis on him to extort a bribe.
▪ It's not as if there was a stash of notes that he could extort from Stone and take away with him.
▪ Jackson, 22, was arrested earlier this year and charged with attempting to extort $ 40 million from Cosby.
▪ Lear pretends to be offering a gift, but is in fact extorting a bribe.
▪ Read in studio A bogus policeman has tried to abduct two children and to extort an on-the-spot fine from a driver.
▪ There isn't the money left in Deptford to extort.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Extort

Extort \Ex*tort"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Extorted; p. pr. & vb. n. Extorting.] [L. extortus, p. p. of extorquere to twist or wrench out, to extort; ex out + torquere to turn about, twist. See Torsion.]

  1. To wrest from an unwilling person by physical force, menace, duress, torture, or any undue or illegal exercise of power or ingenuity; to wrench away (from); to tear away; to wring (from); to exact; as, to extort contributions from the vanquished; to extort confessions of guilt; to extort a promise; to extort payment of a debt.

  2. (Law) To get by the offense of extortion. See Extortion, 2.

Extort

Extort \Ex*tort"\, v. i. To practice extortion. [Obs.]
--Spenser.

Extort

Extort \Ex*tort"\, p. p. & a. [L. extortus. p. p.] Extorted. [Obs.]
--Spenser.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
extort

1520s (as a past participle adj. from early 15c.), "obtain by force or compulsion; wrest away by oppressive means," from Latin extortus, past participle of extorquere "obtain by force," literally "wrench out" (see extortion). Related: Extorted; extorting.

Wiktionary
extort

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To wrest from an unwilling person by physical force, menace, duress, torture, or any undue or illegal exercise of power or ingenuity; to wrench away (from); to tear away; to wring (from); to exact; as, to extort contributions from the vanquished; to extort confessions of guilt; to extort a promise; to extort payment of a debt. 2 (context transitive legal English) To obtain by means of the offense of extortion. 3 (context transitive and intransitive medicine ophthalmology English) To twist outwards.

WordNet
extort
  1. v. obtain through intimidation

  2. obtain by coercion or intimidation; "They extorted money from the executive by threatening to reveal his past to the company boss"; "They squeezed money from the owner of the business by threatening him" [syn: squeeze, rack, gouge, wring]

  3. get or cause to become in a difficult or laborious manner [syn: wring from]

Usage examples of "extort".

They come here from Rome and the suburbs called Italy, they pinch and squeeze and extort, and then they go home again with purses bulging, indifferent to the plight of those they leave behind, the people of Dorian, Aeolian, and Ionian Asia.

Why would anybody accuse six different writers of plagiarizing the same manuscript and then try to extort money from each one?

Such honors as fear and perhaps esteem could extort, they liberally poured forth on the memory of their deceased sovereign.

It was reserved for the reign of Diocletian to vanquish that powerful nation, and to extort a confession from the successors of Artaxerxes, of the superior majesty of the Roman empire.

But as it was found impossible to extort any discovery of this mysterious transaction, it seems incumbent on us either to presume the innocence, or to admire the resolution, of the sufferers.

The acquiescence of the provincials encouraged their governors to acquire, or perhaps to usurp, a discretionary power of employing the rack, to extort from vagrants or plebeian criminals the confession of their guilt, till they insensibly proceeded to confound the distinction of rank, and to disregard the privileges of Roman citizens.

His right hand was cut off, and carried through the streets of Constantinople, in cruel mockery, to extort contributions for the avaricious tyrant, whose head was publicly exposed, borne aloft on the point of a long lance.

Barbarian, who assured his fellow-soldiers, that, if they dared to associate under his command, they might soon extort the justice which had been denied to their dutiful petitions.

His hungry brethren cannot, without a sense of their own injustice, extort from the hunter the game of the forest overtaken or slain by his personal strength and dexterity.

The experience of an abuse, from which our own age and country are not perfectly exempt, may sometimes provoke a generous indignation, and extort the hasty wish of exchanging our elaborate jurisprudence for the simple and summary decrees of a Turkish cadhi.

Mutual necessity could sometimes extort the exchange or ransom of prisoners: but in the national and religious conflict of the two empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy.

But it was easier for him to extort the praise of the Infidels, than to preserve the love of his subjects and associates.

I claim by the right of inheritance and possession, and who shall dare to extort you from my hands?

But they say that the truth of this thing has never had a chance to be proved, for the reason that before any stranger can walk from the drawbridge to the appointed place, the beauty of the palace front will extort an exclamation of delight from him.

Indeed the sum which Dthemetri promised them was extremely small, and not the slightest attempt was made to extort any further reward.