A person who illegally seizes control of a vehicle, aircraft, or ship, usually by force or threat.
From 'hijack,' which originated in American slang around the 1920s, possibly from the greeting 'Hi, Jack!' used by bandits to stop people, though this origin is debated. The '-er' suffix was added to create the agent noun referring to someone who hijacks.
The word 'hijack' mysteriously appeared in 1920s America during Prohibition when gangsters would steal alcohol shipments, and its exact origin is still a bit of a mystery—linguists have over a dozen competing theories!
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