Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A place for the confinement of persons in lawful detention, especially persons convicted of crimes.
- n. A place or condition of confinement or forcible restraint.
- n. A state of imprisonment or captivity.
- v. To confine in or as if in a prison; imprison.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A place of confinement or involuntary restraint; especially, a public building for the confinement or safe custody of criminals and others committed by process of law; a jail.
- n. A prisoner.
- n. A public prison or penitentiary.
- To shut up in a prison; restrain from liberty; imprison, literally or figuratively.
Wiktionary
- n. A place of long-term confinement for those convicted of serious crimes, or otherwise considered undesirable by the government.
- n. uncountable Confinement in a prison.
- n. colloquial Any restrictive environment, such as a harsh academy or home.
- v. transitive to imprison
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A place where persons are confined, or restrained of personal liberty; hence, a place or state o� confinement, restraint, or safe custody.
- n. Specifically, a building for the safe custody or confinement of criminals and others committed by lawful authority.
- v. To imprison; to shut up in, or as in, a prison; to confine; to restrain from liberty.
- v. obsolete To bind (together); to enchain.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a prisonlike situation; a place of seeming confinement
- n. a correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment
Etymologies
- From Old French prison, from Latin prehensionem, accusative singular of prehensio, from prehendō (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, alteration (influenced by Old French pris, taken) of Latin prēnsiō, prēnsiōn-, a seizing, from *prehēnsiō, from prehēnsus, past participle of prehendere, to seize. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I'm speaking to this wicked child, who has obtained our love and sympathy and attention on false pretences, for which she ought to be put in prison -- yes, in _prison_, for such a heartless trick on relatives who can ill afford to be so cruelly disappointed! ”
“Update: Marchello Cecala murder * Brandon Christopher Wallace sentenced to up to 30 years in prison; Anthony David Milligan sentenced to 1-15 years in prison*”
“It's the New York Times, so you'll have to suffer through the misuse of the term "prison camp.”
“Frank Ostrowski, who spent 23 years in prison, is now seeking bail.”
“Jon Jackson, Khadr's lead defense lawyer, argued that Khadr's mistreatment in prison is relevant to the sentence he should serve, even if it didn't invalidate Khadr's confessions.”
The Huffington Post: Daphne Eviatar: Judge Hides Evidence of Torture from Gitmo Jury
“But Khadr's treatment in prison is undoubtedly a mitigating factor in sentencing as well.”
The Huffington Post: Daphne Eviatar: Judge Hides Evidence of Torture from Gitmo Jury
“Since then, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has built a new death chamber and changed how the execution team at San Quentin prison is selected and trained.”
The Huffington Post: Brown Execution Cancelled Again: State Runs Out Of Lethal Injection Drug
“The number of blacks in prison is an at all-time high; one in six black men is unemployed; many of the manufacturing jobs that guaranteed a middle-class lifestyle to high school graduates in the East and Midwest have moved to China, India or Vietnam.”
The Washington Post: Which Black America will turn out to vote?
“The second thing from which a child suffers in prison is hunger.”
“So what term of years in prison is “fair” given his set of non-theoretical circumstances?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘prison’.
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Society
social work, coverage, affiliate, social security, ambulance, clinic, health, insurance, emergency, mail, letter, envelope and 101 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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JURI - courtroom speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
accused, acquittal, ADA, adjournment, adjudication, affidavit, affirmed, aggravated range, aggravating factors, allegation, alleged, answer and 794 more...
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things (bad)
things you may fall victim to.
goto things (good)
( randomness, events, situations, nouns )treachery, quagmire, overdose, bombing, suicide, homicide, spam, prison, acute renal failure, bad programming, being pants'd, bleeding out and 37 more...
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Writing
immunity, reaching, affinity, divinity, ingenuity, linguistics, pictures, kaleidoscopes, statistics, hope, monolith, mist and 222 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident 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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eloise's Words
embrace, perfect, imagine, dance, water, color, echo, hollow, sorrow, beauty, impossible, violet and 438 more...
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Tunie: Kitty
Traditional; arranged by the Pogues, copyright 1984.
Oh Kitty, My Darling, remember
That the doom will be mine if I stay
'Tis far better to part, though it's hard to
...goodbye, god guard you, good night, cry, mountain, a stor, police, mo mhuirnín, lips, pale, kissed, softly and 4 more...
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MEC4 Lesson 145
abandon, headquarters, lambada, association, catch on, sort, primal, deep-seated, sticky, rightful, technically, close and 55 more...
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flyrobynfly's Words
timer, word, curator, limited, what, love, torture, speed, compassion, terror, romance, seed and 55 more...
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The Pokey, the Big House, The Slammer
can, big house, slammer, clink, jail, pen, oubliette, the pokey, sisters, punk, cage, cooler and 28 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...
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Rock 'n' Roll, a play by Tom Stoppard
Syd Barrett, Golden Hair, Pan, Prague, Velvet Revolution, biscuits, stale, lovely, Beach Boys, The Velvet Underg..., Nico, The Rolling Stones and 37 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for prison.
bilby
Stone Walls do not a Prison make,
Nor Iron bars a Cage ;
Mindes innocent and quiet take
That for an Hermitage ;
If I have freedome in my Love,
And in my soule am free ;
Angels alone that sore above,
Injoy such Liberty.
- Richard Lovelace, 'To Althea. From Prison.' Feb 7, 2009