blackmail

n. 1 a extortion of payment in return for silence. B payment so extorted. 2 use of threats or moral pressure. v. 1 (try to) extort money etc. From by blackmail. 2 threaten, coerce.  blackmailer n. [obsolete mail rent]

n. 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.