Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act or right of guarding, especially such a right granted by a court: an adult who was given custody of the child.
- n. Care, supervision, and control exerted by one in charge. See Synonyms at care.
- n. The state of being detained or held under guard, especially by the police: took the robbery suspect into custody.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A keeping; a guarding; care, watch, inspection, or detention, for preservation or security: as, the prisoner was committed to the custody of the sheriff. It is often used to imply the power and duty of control and safe keeping of a thing, as distinguished from the legal possession, which is deemed to be in another person: thus, the goods of the master may be in his legal possession though in the custody of his servant.
- n. Restraint of liberty; confinement; imprisonment; incarceration.
- n. Safe-keeping against a foe; guarding; security.
Wiktionary
- n. The legal right to take care of something or somebody, especially children.
- n. Temporary possession or care of somebody else's property.
- n. The state of being imprisoned or detained, usually pending a trial.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A keeping or guarding; care, watch, inspection, for keeping, preservation, or security.
- n. Judicial or penal safe-keeping.
- n. State of being guarded and watched to prevent escape; restraint of liberty; confinement; imprisonment.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (with `in') guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
- n. a state of being confined (usually for a short time)
- n. holding by the police
Etymologies
- From Latin custodia ("a keeping, watch, guard, prison"), from custos ("a keeper, watchman, guard"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English custodie, from Latin custōdia, from custōs, custōd-, guard. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The counter in custody is not a blind spot. on September 9, 2009 at 11: 09 am Anon”
Citizen Focus – meet the “customer”. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG
“There are probably even situations where not intervening against a parent slapping a child in custody is the right decision, when the child would learn from the punishment.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Oh, That’s Funny, Because I Happen to Have [Officer Krupke] Right Here
“Gates was playing with fire and 4 hours in custody is not good but not terrible – I don't think he was out of line, but the police also have their lives on the line”
“If they got the right guy, the guy they have in custody is a major and a psychiatrist.”
“In the absence of a reasonable or founded suspicion that a person in custody is concealing weapons or contraband, a person in custody on a misdemeanor or other minor offense has a constitutional right to be free from warrantless strip searches (see People v Kelley, 306 AD2d 699, 700 [2003], lv denied 1 NY3d 598 [2004]; People v Jennings, 297 AD2d 644 [2002]).”
“We all know what a Friday night in custody is like - mad.”
“The man in custody is Nigerian, and police confirm he has been deported eight times but keeps returning using phony passports.”
“Being in custody is not supposed to be like checking in to the VIP lounge at Heathrow Airport.”
“The fact that the US Inspector General has confirmed that that Arab and Muslim detainees have been beaten while in custody is a definite human rights violation and a war crime.”
“Zubaydah, the highest-ranking al-Qaeda member in custody, is questioned daily at a secret location, U.S. officials say.”
USATODAY.com - Al-Qaeda records solve many 9/11 puzzles, but others linger
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘custody’.
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Legislationie: The Habeas Corpus Act ...
An act for the better securing the liberty of the subject, and for prevention of imprisonments beyond the seas.
WHEREAS great delays have been used by sheriffs, gaolers and other offi...of the peace, the hand and seal of, signed and sealed, jurisdiction, hath, order, recognizances, cognizable, properly, city, county, gaol-delivery and 120 more...
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Tory's First Wordie List
perambulate, mumpsimus, euphoric, peripatetic, mellifluous, soporific, neologism, nihilism, nepotism, effervescent, lascivious, esoteric and 217 more...
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Words I rather like
Words herein are those that I like somewhat.
prestidigitation, splendid, badger, custody, adjustable, huzzah, artillery, heavy, quincunx, brummagem, crapulous, fuselage and 20 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for custody.
crunchysaviour Consider it done, friend. Aug 19, 2008
chained_bear Niiiice!
Reminds me of college, where all students had to do a two-year project called a Plan, and some friends devised a Top Ten List for Reducing Plan Stress. Number one was: "Change the P in Plan to an F for flan, and turn your own personal nightmare into an innocuous Mexican custard-like dessert."
(Note: no flans were harmed in the making of this immature comment.)
p.s. Have you thought about bracketing custardy? Aug 16, 2008
crunchysaviour Think of this word as being spelled "custardy" to make light of those difficult incarceration-based situations. Aug 16, 2008