After a sweep, gang members usually move to another building, turning more public housing residents into virtual hostages.

Iran hit back by circling the French Embassy in Teheran, making virtual hostages of the French citizens inside.

The crew members were held as virtual hostages for 11 days.

The unlucky ones got "liberated" by the Soviets, who instead of turning them over quickly to the western allies, held them as virtual hostages for several more months.

The truth is that King Sevalas was keeping Franko a virtual hostage.

Newly married daughters are sometimes virtual hostages against the payments promised by their parents to their in-laws, whose demands sometimes escalate after the marriage.

After that, Tagliabue noted, Rozelle, who had been considered a virtual hostage to the drawn-out selection process, will be "a free man."

Constantine recognized the implicit danger in remaining at Galerius' court, where he was held as a virtual hostage.

Bagrat, accompanied by his mother, was forced to head for Constantinople where the king was kept as a virtual hostage for three years.

The tactic, used by the Serbs in the past when they faced air strikes, left the peacekeepers virtual hostages.