Etymology : Middle English, from Old French, from Latin prehension-, prehensio act of seizing, from prehendere to seize; more at GET
Pronunciation : pri-z
&n
Function : noun
Date : 12th century
1. imprison, put in prison, incarcerate, jail, detain. jail, penitentiary, location where convicted criminals and people awaiting trial are confined. prisonyou can click anywhere, but just don't click here.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.].
2. a place where persons are confined, or restrained of personal liberty; hence, a place or state o confinement, restraint, or safe custody. bring my soul out of prison, that i may praise thy name. cxlii.
3. the tyrant ?olus, with power imperial, curbs the struggling winds, and sounding tempests in dark prisons binds.
4. specifically, a building for the safe custody or confinement of criminals and others committed by lawful authority.prison bars, orprison base. see:
base, n., 24.prison breach. (law) see:
note under 3d escape, n., 4.prison house, a prison.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 \pris"on\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. prisoned ; p. pr. & vb. n. prisoning.].
5. to imprison; to shut up in, or as in, a prison; to confine; to restrain from liberty. the prisoned eagle dies for rage. w. scott. his true respect will prison false desire.
6. to bind (together); to enchain. [obs.] sir william crispyn with the duke was led together prisoned.
7. A place where persons are confined, or restrained of personal liberty; hence, a place or state o&?; confinement, restraint, or safe custody.
8. Specifically, a building for the safe custody or confinement of criminals and others committed by lawful authority.
9. To imprison; to shut up in, or as in, a prison; to confine; to restrain from liberty.
10. To bind ; to enchain. a correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment a prisonlike situation; a place of seeming confinement Printed letters; the impression taken from type, as to excellence, form, size, etc.; as, small print; large print; this line is in print.
11. That which is produced by printing.
12. An impression taken from anything, as from an engraved plate.
13. A printed publication, more especially a newspaper or other periodical.
14. A printed cloth; a fabric figured by stamping, especially calico or cotton cloth.
15. A photographic copy, or positive picture, on prepared paper, as from a negative, or from a drawing on transparent paper.
16. A prison is a building where criminals are kept as punishment or where people accused of a crime are kept before their trial. The prison's inmates are being kept in their cells He was sentenced to life in prison = jail. Institution for the confinement of people convicted of crimes. Prisons are administered by state, provincial, or national governments and house inmates for relatively long terms. They thus differ from jails, which usually are under local jurisidiction and house inmates serving short sentences. Until the late 18th century, prisons were used mainly for the confinement of debtors who could not meet their obligations, of accused persons waiting to be tried, and of convicts who were waiting for their sentences of death or banishment to be put into effect. Later, imprisonment itself came to be accepted as a means of punishing convicted criminals. In early U.S. prisons, prisoners were kept in isolation; in the 19th century, they were permitted to work together, but only in silence. At the end of the 19th century, prison reformers successfully advocated segregation of criminals by type of crime, age, and sex; rewards for good behaviour; indeterminate sentencing; vocational training; and parole. In the late 20th century, prison populations in many countries began to explode as arrests for violent offenses and for possession of small amounts of illegal drugs increased.