prison

Noun
Synonyms: prison house

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. a correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishmentSynonyms: prison house
  2. a prisonlike situation; a place of seeming confinementSynonyms: prison house
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Prison \Pris"on\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prisoned; p. pr. & vb. n. Prisoning.]

1.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.— Sir W. Scott.[1913 Webster]
His true respect will prison false desire.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

2.To bind (together); to enchain. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Sir William Crispyn with the duke was led Together prisoned.— Robert of Brunne.[1913 Webster]
Prison \Pris"on\ (?; 277), 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.]

1.A place where persons are confined, or restrained of personal liberty; hence, a place or state o? confinement, restraint, or safe custody. [1913 Webster]

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.— Ps. cxlii. 7.[1913 Webster]
The tyrant Aeolus, . . . With power imperial, curbs the struggling winds, And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

2.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. [1913 Webster]

The Devil's 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.

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