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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Blackmail \Black"mail'\, noun [Black + mail a piece of money.]
1. 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. --Sir W. Scott.
2. Payment of money exacted by means of intimidation; also, extortion of money from a person by threats of public accusation, exposure, or censure.
3. (Eng. Law) Black rent, or rent paid in corn, flesh, or the lowest coin, a opposed to ''white rent'', which paid in silver.
{To levy blackmail}, to extort money by threats, as of injury to one's reputation.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Blackmail \Black"mail'\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Blackmailed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Blackmailing}.] 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. [U. S.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
blackmail
noun: extortion of money by threats to divulge discrediting information
verb
1: exert pressure on someone through threats [syn: {blackjack}, {pressure}]
2: obtain through threats
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
111 Moby Thesaurus words for "blackmail": account, allowance, ask, ask for, assessment, badger, badger game, bill, blood money, bloodsucking, boodle, booty, call, call for, challenge, claim, clamor for, coerce, compel, contribution, cry for, demand, demand for, draft, drain, duty, emolument, exact, exaction, extort, extortion, extortionate demand, fee, footing, force, force from, graft, haul, heavy demand, hot goods, hush money, impose, imposition, impost, indent, initiation fee, insistent demand, issue an ultimatum, levy, levy blackmail, loot, make, make a demand, mileage, nonnegotiable demand, notice, order, order up, perks, perquisite, pickings, place an order, plunder, pork barrel, prize, protection racket, pry loose from, public till, public trough, put in requisition, ransom, reckoning, rend, rend from, require, requirement, requisition, retainer, retaining fee, rip, rip from, rush, rush order, scot, screw, shake down, shakedown, snatch from, spoil, spoils, spoils of office, squeeze, stealings, stipend, stolen goods, swag, take, tax, taxing, tear from, till, tribute, ultimatum, vampirism, warn, warning, wrench, wrench from, wrest, wring, wring from
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