Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A house of correction for the confinement of vagrants and disorderly persons. The name is now generally given to a prison in connection with a police-station, for the temporary detention of those who have been arrested by the police.
Wiktionary
- n. A small prison, or a police station that has cells.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A house of correction for the confinement of disorderly persons; -- so called from a hospital built in 1553 near St. Bride's (or Bridget's) well, in London, which was subsequently a penal workhouse.
Etymologies
- From Bridewell (named after a well dedicated to St Bride), an area of London that once had a "house of correction". (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Paul pleaded his privilege as a Roman citizen, by which he was exempted from all trials and punishments of this nature (v. 25): As they bound him with thongs, or leathern bands, to the whipping post, as they used to bind the vilest of malefactors in bridewell from whom they would extort a confession, he made no outcry against the injustice of their proceedings against an innocent man, but very mildly let them understand the illegality of their proceedings against him as a citizen of Rome, which he had done once before at Philippi after he had been scourged (ch.xvi. 37), but here he makes use of it for prevention.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)
“Here a gang of older boys and men were wont to congregate at such times as they had naught else to occupy their time, and as the bridewell was the only place in which they ever held a job for more than a day or two, they had considerable time to devote to congregating.”
“The bridewell was a small low-studded chamber built up against the rear end of the Meat Market, and approached from the Square by a narrow passage-way.”
“Shouldn't we bring back the bridewell and rely on eleemosynary assistance instead - remember they made the Empire and then the welfare state destroyed it from 1918 onwards”
“Quoth they, “Didst thou not bid us bear him to the bridewell?””
“So they took him and bore him to the bridewell, where they laid him in irons and left him seated in solitude, unremembered by any.”
“Sat shin, shillipen? she knew the vice out of bridewell was a bad fast man by his walk on the spot.”
“Stephen was blissfully unconscious but for that man in the gap turning up at the eleventh hour the finis might have been that he might have been a candidate for the accident ward or, failing that, the bridewell and an appearance in the court next day before Mr”
“If a fellow gave them trouble being lagged they let him have it hot and heavy in the bridewell.”
“Beggars fear him more than the justice, and as much as the whip-stock, whom he delivers over to his subordinate magistrates, the bridewell-man, and the beadle.”
Microcosmography or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bridewell’.
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phrontistery - b
List of words from phrontistery.info
babeldom, baccate, bacchanal, bacciferous, bacciform, baccivorous, bacillicide, backstay, bactericide, baculiform, baculine, baculum and 582 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Tip-Top Toponymic
Place names that have entered general speech. Toponyms that interest me in other ways are on Place Names Of Distinction
hamburger, wiener, finlandisation, vernissage, hackney, venetians, bohemian, anti-macassar, berliner, cravat, calico, serendipity and 113 more...
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Olde Fashyned Slang
word, cracking, blotto, ankle, dewdropper, applesauce, bee's knees, bird, breezer, bubs, bum's rush, cake-eater and 36 more...
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Jail Terms
Synonyms for 'jail.' Some of these shamelessly pilfered from spicolli's list: http://www.wordnik.com/lists/the-pokey-the-b...
jail, prison, can, big house, slammer, clink, pen, oubliette, cage, cooler, solitary, penitentiary and 64 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bridewell.

sarra Indeed.
Incidentally, OED etymology: From Bride Well, i.e. (St.) Bride's Well, a holy well in London, near which Henry VIII had a ‘lodging’, given by Edward VI for a hospital, afterwards converted into a house of correction. Dec 26, 2008
bilby Doesn't have to be for women. At least the bridewell pointed out to me by a tour guide in Bath was used mainly for male prisoners. Dec 26, 2008
chained_bear Slang for women's prison... I think. (Could be just prison...) Sep 5, 2008