Shanghai (verb)

1. To force someone to join a ship for service, especially by kidnapping or trickery.
2. To take (someone) aboard a ship by force or trickery for use as a sailor.

Origin:

Late 19th century: of uncertain origin, but perhaps from the practice of forcibly taking sailors from american or australian ports and shipping them to the orient.

Examples:

1. The sailors were shanghaied and forced to work on the ship against their will.
2. Many young men in the 19th century were shanghaied and sent to sea against their will.
3. The sailors were shanghaied in a bar and woke up on a ship bound for China.
4. The crew was short-handed, so the captain decided to shanghai some men from the local port.
5. The sailors feared being shanghaied and forced to work on a ship for years without pay.