[f. prec.] trans. To levy black mail upon; to extort money from by intimidation, by the unscrupulous use of an official or social position, or of political influence or vote.
1880. L. Oliphant, Gilead, ix. 265. The sheikh … black-mails travellers.
1882. W. Weeden, Soc. Law Labor, 176. The chief … would protect and blackmail him.
Hence Black-mailer, Black-mailing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. (modern words referring chiefly to the levying of BLACK-MAIL in sense 2.)
1868. N. York Herald, 24 April, 6/5. The Quixotic enterprise of the lobbyists and blackmailers of the Arcade Railroad.
1879. J. Hawthorne, Laugh. Mill, 108. Were I to lose all my fortune, I could, by turning black-mailer, ensure a permanent income twice as large.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 27 Feb., 4/1. Introducing a system of blackmailing even worse than that which prevailed before.
1884. W. M. Baker, in Harper’s Mag., March, 567/1. She had the blackmailing vixen in the parlor before she could say a word.
