Prison

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pris=on

CIDE DICTIONARY

Prison, n. [F., fr. L. prehensio, prensio, a seizing, arresting, fr. prehendre, prendere, to lay hold of, to seize. See Prehensile, and cf. Prize, n., Misprision.].

•  A place where persons are confined, or restrained of personal liberty; hence, a place or state o1913 Webster]

  "Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name."  [1913 Webster]

  "The tyrant Æolus, . . .
  With power imperial, curbs the struggling winds,
  And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds."  [1913 Webster]
•  Specifically, a building for the safe custody or confinement of criminals and others committed by lawful authority.  [1913 Webster]

Prison bars, or Prison base. See Base, n., 24. -- Prison breach. (Law) See Note under 3d Escape, n., 4. -- Prison house, a prison. Shak. -- Prison ship (Naut.), a ship fitted up for the confinement of prisoners. -- Prison van, a carriage in which prisoners are conveyed to and from prison.

Prison, v. t. 

•  To imprison; to shut up in, or as in, a prison; to confine; to restrain from liberty.  [1913 Webster]

  "The prisoned eagle dies for rage."  [1913 Webster]

  "His true respect will prison false desire."  [1913 Webster]
•  To bind (together); to enchain.  [1913 Webster]

  "Sir William Crispyn with the duke was led
  Together prisoned."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Prison, n. & v.
--n.
1 a place in which a person is kept in captivity, esp. a building to which persons are legally committed while awaiting trial or for punishment; a jail.
2 custody, confinement (in prison).
--v.tr. poet. (prisoned, prisoning) put in prison.

Idiom

prison-breaking escape from prison. prison camp a camp for prisoners of war or of State.

Etymology

ME f. OF prisun, -on f. L prensio -onis f. prehensio f. prehendere prehens- lay hold of

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Prison

n. A place of punishments and rewards. The poet assures us that --

"Stone walls do not a prison make,"

but a combination of the stone wall, the political parasite and the moral instructor is no garden of sweets.

THESAURUS

Prison

POW camp, bastille, big house, black hole, borstal, borstal institution, bridewell, brig, calaboose, can, cell, chokey, clink, concentration camp, condemned cell, confine, confinement, constrain, cooler, death cell, death house, death row, detention, detention camp, dungeon, federal prison, forced-labor camp, gaol, glasshouse, guardhouse, hoosegow, house of correction, house of detention, immure, incarcerate, industrial school, intern, internment camp, jail, jailhouse, jug, keep, labor camp, lockup, maximum-security prison, minimum-security prison, oubliette, pen, penal colony, penal institution, penal settlement, penitentiary, pokey, poky, prison camp, prisonhouse, quod, reform school, reformatory, slammer, sponging house, state prison, stir, stockade, the hole, tollbooth, training school

ROGET THESAURUS

Prison

Refuge

N refuge, sanctuary, retreat, fastness, acropolis, keep, last resort, ward, prison, asylum, ark, home, refuge for the destitute, almshouse, hiding place, sanctum sanctorum, roadstead, anchorage, breakwater, mole, port, haven, harbor, harbor of refuge, seaport, pier, jetty, embankment, quay, covert, cover, shelter, screen, lee wall, wing, shield, umbrella, barrier, dashboard, dasher, wall, fort, anchor, kedge, grapnel, grappling iron, sheet anchor, killick, mainstay, support, cheek, ballast, jury mast, vent-peg, safety valve, blow-off valve, safety lamp, lightning rod, lightning conductor, safety belt, airbag, seat belt, antilock brakes, antiskid tires, snow tires, means of escape, lifeboat, lifejacket, life buoy, swimming belt, cork jacket, parachute, plank, steppingstone, emergency landing, safeguard, any port in a storm, bibere venenum in auro, valet anchora virtus.

Prison

N prison, prison house, jail, gaol, cage, coop, den, cell, stronghold, fortress, keep, donjon, dungeon, Bastille, oubliette, bridewell, house of correction, hulks, tollbooth, panopticon, penitentiary, guardroom, lockup, hold, round house, watch house, station house, sponging house, station, house of detention, black hole, pen, fold, pound, inclosure, isolation (exclusion), penal settlement, penal colony, bilboes, stocks, limbo, quod, calaboose, chauki, choky, thana, workhouse, Newgate, Fleet, Marshalsea, King's Bench, Queen's Bench, bond, bandage, irons, pinion, gyve, fetter, shackle, trammel, manacle, handcuff, straight jacket, strait jacket, strait-jacket, strait-waistcoat, hopples, vice, vise, yoke, collar, halter, harness, muzzle, gag, bit, brake, curb, snaffle, bridle, rein, reins, bearing rein, martingale, leading string, tether, picket, band, guy, chain, cord, cavesson, hackamore, headstall, jaquima, lines, ribbons, bolt, deadbolt, bar, lock, police lock, combination lock, padlock, rail, wall, stone wall, paling, palisade, fence, picket fence, barbed wire fence, Cyclone fence, stockade fence, chain-link fence, barrier, barricade, drag.

Inclosure

N inclosure, envelope, case, wrapper, girdle, pen, fold, pen fold, in fold, sheep fold, paddock, pound, corral, yard, net, seine net, wall, hedge, hedge row, espalier, fence, pale, paling, balustrade, rail, railing, quickset hedge, park paling, circumvallation, enceinte, ring fence, barrier, barricade, gate, gateway, bent, dingle, door, hatch, cordon, prison, dike, dyke, ditch, fosse, moat.