Oxford English Dictionary definition of prison: prison ('prIz(&schwa.)n), sb. Forms: 2-5 prisun (dat. 2-4 -une), 4-5 -une; 3- prison (dat. 3-4 -one), 4-6 prisone; 3-6 -oun (5 -oune), 4-5 -own; 4-6 pryson, -one, -oun, -own (5 -yn); 6 prissoun. beta. 4-5 presun (4 pressone), 4-7 preson(e, -oun(e, 5 -own, 6 preassoun. [Early ME. prisun, -on, a. OFr. prisun (11th c. in Littre), prison, the action of taking, imprisonment, captivity, a prison; a prisoner; altered (prob. by assimilation to the pa. pple. pris taken) from earlier OFr. preson:-L. prension-em, contr. from prehension-em a seizing, apprehending, n. of action f. prehendere, prendere to seize. So Pr. preiso-s, Ital. prigione, Sp. prision, Pg. prisao. Sense 2, which existed also in OFr., Ital., Sp., and med.L., appears to have arisen from a person taken (in war) and held as a captive, being considered as a capture, prise, or PRIZE.] 1 orig. The condition of being kept in captivity or confinement; forcible deprivation of personal liberty; imprisonment; hence, a place in which such confinement is ensured; spec. such a place properly arranged and equipped for the reception of persons who by legal process are committed to it for safe custody while awaiting trial or for punishment; a jail. a without article. Here the primary sense is that of the condition, though the notion of a definite place of confinement is now more or less present. Often with certain verbs, as to break prison (BREAK v. 19); to cast (CAST v. 32), do, put, set in prison; to keep, lay, lie in prison. A. 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1112 Rotbert de Baelesme he let niman and on prisune don. 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1137 Tha namen hi pa men..& diden heom in prisun. C. 1175 Lamb. Hom. 13 3e beod iseald eower feonde to prisune. C. 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2070 Dre daies ben 3et for to cumen, Du salt ben ut of prisun numen. 1297 R. GLOUC. (Rolls) 875 The quene hor aunte in bataile hii nome & in stronge prison bro3te [v.rr. dude, putte]. A. 1300 Cursor M. 9556 Til his aun fa felun Was he be-taght for to prisun [v.rr. presoun, preson, prisoun]. C. 1400 MAUNDEV. (Roxb.) x. 40 A place whare oure Lord was done in prisoun. C. 1430 LYDG. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 183 Songe and prison have noon accordaunce, Trowest thou I wolle syng in prisoun? 1448 Paston Lett. I. 74 Sum be in pryson in the jayll at Coventre. A. 1500 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 264 Yf ony thing in this lettre be vntrue, I am contente that your Grace giue vnto me therfore perpetuell prison. 1535 COVERDALE Ps. cxlv[i]. 7 The Lorde lowseth men out of preson. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Dk. of Suffolk xx, And caused me in prison to be thralled. 1581 MARBECK Bk. of Notes 665 The King caused him to be clapt in prison, but he brake prison. 1621 Execution at Prague in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 411 Remain in perpetual prison. 1700 DRYDEN Pal. & Arc. I. 461 While I Must languish in despair, in prison die. 1897 Daily News 30 Aug. 5/1 Prison for lads should be the last, and not the first, resort. b with a, the, or a possessive, or in plural, referring more distinctly to a material structure. State prison: (a) a prison for the confinement of political offenders; (b) U.S. a prison under the control of the authorities of a State. C. 1175 Lamb. Hom. 33 The mon pe leie xii. moned in ane prisune. C. 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 131 Seint iohan baptiste was bihaueded in herodes prisone. A. 1300 Cursor M. 13068 Iohn..pou sal in mi presun lii. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 79, I com wyth pose typynges, pay tame bylyue, Pynez me in a prysoun, put me in stokkes. 1382 WYCLIF Acts v. 23 We founden the prisoun schit with al diligence, and the keperis stondinge at the 3atis. C. 1400 Destr. Troy 3518 The kyng pen comaund to..fetur hir fast in a fre prisoune,-A stithe house of stone. 1490 CAXTON Eneydos xxxii. 120 Thus eschaped dedalus oute of the pryson of Mynos kynge of Crete. 1530 PALSGR. 258/2 Prison a dongyon, chartre. A. 1572 KNOX Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 383 The uthir [was] in vyle preassoun cassin. 1600 J. PORY tr. Leo's Africa 33 There are no prisons in al his empire: for..iustice is executed out of hand. 1637 Documents agst. Prynne (Camden) 91 The order to send Doctor Bastwicke, Mr. Burton, and Mr. Prin to their severall remote prisons. 1649 LOVELACE To Althea from Prison iv, Stone Walls doe not a Prison make, Nor Iron bars a Cage. 1777 HOWARD (title) The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, with Preliminary Observations, and an account of some foreign Prisons. 1795 Jemima II. 77 Gave the air of a state prison to the apartment. 1823 Act 4 Geo. IV, c. 64 Sect.76 Nothing in this Act contained shall extend to the..Prison of Bridewell, nor to the Fleet Prison, or to the Prison of the Marshalsea. 1885 MAJOR GRIFFITHS in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 747/2 The atrocities perpetrated [c 1730] by the keepers of the chief debtors' prisons in London. 1885 MAJOR GRIFFITHS in Encycl. Brit. 755/2 Where the sentence passes beyond two years..the prisoner becomes a convict, and undergoes his penalty in one or more of the convict prisons. 189. SIR G. KEKEWICH in Westm. Gaz. 20 Mar. (1900), 10/1 Every time I hear of a new school being opened, I say to myself `There goes another prison'. c transf. and fig. (from a and b.) A. 1225 Ancr. R. 54 Eue..leop..vrom pes eorde to helle, per heo lei ine prisune uour pusend 3er & moare. 1377 LANGL. P. Pl. B. XI. 128 Resoun shal..casten hym in arrerage, And putten hym after in a prisone in purgatorie to brenne. 1382 WYCLIF 1 Pet. iii. 19 To hem that weren closid to gydere in prisoun he comynge in spirit prechide [1611 He went and preached vnto the spirits in prison]. 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) VI. 377 Aluredus..ladde uncerteyn and unesy lyf in pe wode contrayes of Somersete..Aluredus com out of prison. 1509 HAWES Past. Pleas. xxxii. (Percy Soc.) 157 This False Reporte hath broken pryson, With his subtyl crafte and evyl treason. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 75 b, The Cite is to me a pryson, and the wyldernes a paradyse. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. II. ii. 246-9. 1606 BP. HALL Medit. & Vows II. Sect.5. 132, I may not breake prison, till I bee loosed by death. 1719 DE FOE Crusoe I. 113 The Island was certainly a Prison to me. 1835 SIR J. ROSS Narr. 2nd Voy. xxxiii. 473 Our winter prison was before us. 1880 E. H. PLUMPTRE in Dict. Chr. Biog. II. 196/1 So Cyril of Jerusalem..speaks of Christ as descending to Hades... The souls that had been long in prison were set free. d In Roulette and related board-games: a position on the board where bets are held in abeyance until the next round of play; spec. in phr. to put (a stake) in prison. 1867 Bohn's Hand-Bk. Games 346 The punters may..have their stake moved into the middle semicircles of the colour they then choose, called `la premiere prison', the first prison, to be determined by the next event, whether they lose all or are set at liberty. 1940 WODEHOUSE Eggs, Beans & Crumpets 32 When Zero turns up..stakes on the even chances aren't scooped up-they are what is called put in prison. 1977 P. ARNOLD Encyl. Gambling 247/1 Prison, a convention whereby a stake on the even-money chances at roulette is left on the table, or `put in prison' when zero appears, to be either retained by the bettor or lost according to the next spin. e prison-without-bars (colloq.): an open prison (OPEN a. 2 c). 1948 Manch. Even. News 10 Nov., The former governor of Britain's `prison-without-bars' at Loudham Grange. 1952 J. HENRY Who lie in Gaol v. 69, I heard a great deal of the many advantages I would enjoy at the prison-without-bars at York; in fact it was looked upon as a form of heaven by most of the prisoners [at Holloway]. 1959 H. CARMICHAEL Stranglehold vi. 58 A solicitor who was doing time at the prison-without-bars. 2 A person held in prison; a PRISONER. Obs. 1195 Charter Rich. I in Rymer Foedera I. 92/2 Hiis omnibus per actis Comes Leicestriae, et omnes Prisones, et hostagii Prisonum..liberabuntur. A. 1225 Ancr. R. 32 The pine pet prisuns polied; pet heo ligged mid iren heuie iveotered. 1292 BRITTON I. xii. Sect.2 Et si le prisoun qi si avera eschape. A. 1300 Cursor M. 4436 (Cott.) All pe prisuns [v.rr. presunes, prisouns] pat par was, That oper in prisun war or band. 13.. Evang. Nicod. 521 in Herrig's Archiv LIII. 401 A pryson pai had hight Barabas. 1377 LANGL. P. Pl. B. XVIII. 58 Pitousliche and pale as a prisoun pat deyeth. 1438 Bk. Alexander Grt. (Bann.) 4 Thay tuik na tent to tak presounis. 1494 FABYAN Chron. VII. 530 They..toke with them all seyntwary men, & the prysons of Newgate, Ludgate, & of bothe Counters. 3 attrib. and Comb. a attributive: (a) of or pertaining to a prison or prisons, as prison-accommodation, -boat, -buildings, -cell, chaplain, -clock, Commission (COMMISSION 6), -discipline, -dream, -dress, -garment, -ground, guard, -hour, -industry, -labour, -library, officer, -official, pallor, -piety, reform, -rime, -roof, -sister, -thrall, -torture, -wall (also fig.), warder, yard; (b) confined in a prison, as prison-author, -slave, woman; (c) serving as a prison or place of confinement, as prison camp, chamber, farm, fort, fortress, hold, hospital, island, isle, pit, place, room, ship, tower. b objective and object. gen., as prison-cleaner, -keeper, -making, visitor; prison-visiting sb.; prison-bursting, -escaping, fancying adjs. c instrumental, locative, etc., as prison-born, -bound, -caused, -flavoured, -grey, -made, -taught; also prison-free, -like adjs. d Special comb.: prison-bird, one who has been often or long in prison for felonies: cf. JAIL-BIRD; prison-breach, -breaking, a breaking out of a lawfully confined person from prison: cf. to break prison: see 1 a and BREAK v. 19; so prison-breaker; prison-crop, hair cut very short, `county-crop': cf. CROP sb. 13; so prison-cropped adj.; prison editor, an editor (of a newspaper) who takes the legal responsibility for what appears in the paper, and serves the terms of imprisonment that conviction may entail; prison-fever = JAIL-FEVER; prison haircut = prison-crop; prison-van, a close carriage for the conveyance of prisoners. Also PRISON-BAR, -DOOR, etc. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 23 Oct. 16/2 Mrs. Price..had many distinguished predecessors as *prison-authors. It was in Newgate that Defoe wrote his `Jure Divino' [etc.]. 1632 MASSINGER City Madam I. i, I sent the *prison-bird this morning for them. 1898 BESANT Orange Girl Prol., `I venture to ask who you are.' `A prison bird, madam. Nothing more.' C. 1820 S. ROGERS Italy, St. Mark's Place 114 Most nights arrived The *prison-boat. 1660 FULLER Mixt Contempl. (1841) 173, I lack..many things which thou, being *prison-born, neither art nor can be sensible of. 1853 KANE Grinnell Exp. xxix. (1856) 240 Us, poor *prison-bound vagrants. 1903 LD. W. N[EVILLE] Penal Servitude vi. 63 A most irregular proceeding,..calculated to lead to conspiracy, *prison-breach. 1725 (title) The *Prison-Breaker; or, the Adventures of John Sheppard. A. 1849 J. C. MANGAN Poems (1859) 455 *Prison-bursting Death! Welcome be thy blow! 1925 Scribner's Mag. Oct. 386/1 The scene is a Turkish *prison-camp during the recent war. 1978 Lancashire Life Nov. 150/1 (Advt.), Mr. P--, a Pole who arrived in England in 1947 after..escaping from a German prison camp. 1902 MAJOR GRIFFITHS in Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 7/1 The *prison cell, which in effect typifies the modern system. 1797 MRS. RADCLIFFE Italian xii, The passage..probably led to the *prison-chamber which Olivia had described. A. 1902 S. BUTLER Way of All Flesh (1903) lxv. 293 He might experimentalise advantageously upon the viler soul of the *prison chaplain. 1910 Encyl. Brit. V. 851/2 Prison chaplains are appointed by the home secretary. 1972 N. MARSH Tied up in Tinsel iii. 78 The prison chaplain gave a short, civilized sermon. 1898 O. WILDE Ballad of Reading Gaol 18 The *prison-clock Smote on the shivering air. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 18 May 9/2 Down till after 1801 `a *prison crop' was unknown in the services-officers and men wore their hair in queue. 1894 A. ROBERTSON Nuggets 13 You'll find he's *prison cropped. 1818 T. F. BUXTON Inquiry Prison Discipline 137 Having..described two..opposite modes of *prison discipline, I would suggest.., that a comparison of these is the most certain criterion of their respective merits. 1834 J. S. MILL in Monthly Repos. VIII. 590 Has not a notion grown up within a few years, (we believe a very false one), that the increased mildness of prison-discipline has made our gaols..places where the prisoner is actually too comfortable, and too well off? 1857 RUSKIN Pol. Econ. Art i. Sect.2. 56 Without..pushing our calculations quite to this prison-discipline extreme. 1885 MAJOR GRIFFITHS in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 749/1 Stimulated..by the success achieved by Mrs. Fry, the Prison Discipline Society continued its useful labours. 1869 W. P. MACKAY Grace & Truth (1875) 26 The *prison-dress that you have on. 1896 Daily News 14 Nov. 6/7 A writer in the `Pretoria Press' says, in connection with the Coercion Act recently passed: `Should the Press Law come into force, it will be necessary for some of our papers to become possessed of a `*Prison Editor'. 1905 Daily Chron. 28 Sept. 4/6 In France..most of the important political articles are signed, and the name of an editor is generally printed on the main page. But it is sometimes merely that of the `prison editor'. 1961 Atlanta Constitution 4 Nov. 1 The jury praised the administration and operation of the Atlanta Police Department, the Fulton Tax Commissioner's Office, the Bellwood and Alpharetta *prison farms, [etc.]. 1968 Listener 15 Feb. 210/1 As remarkable..is the improvement he has brought about in his year in charge of the smaller prison farm, Tucker. 1975 C. WESTON Susannah Screaming (1976) iii. 39 Delgado made a break from the prison farm where he had been sent after a period of good behavior in a federal cellblock. 1853 CDL. WISEMAN Ess. III. 20 An African..*prison-fort, where galley-slaves are detained. 18.. Lang Johnny Moir xlix. in Child Ballads VIII. (1892) 400/1 They've taen the lady by the hand And set her *prison-free. 1560 BIBLE (Genev.) Jer. lii. 33 Euil-merodach..broght him out of prison,..And changed his *prison garments [COVERD. clothes of his preson]. 1956 H. MACDIARMID Stony Limits & Scots Unbound 90 A flash of sun in a country all *prison-grey. 14.. Sir Beues 1311 (MS.M) Whan he was down in *preson ground Beues handis they on-bound. 1961 W. T. BALLARD Night Riders i. 15 Two wore the uniform of *prison guards, three the striped suits of convicts. 1970 G. JACKSON Let. 10 June in Soledad Brother (1971) 40, I am being tried in court right now..for the alleged slaying of a prison guard. 1977 Time 12 Dec. 47/3 With only good time remaining as a route to early release, the potential for abuse by prison guards would be heightened as well. 1974 Times 17 Aug. 7/1 A snotty little nervous kid with a *prison haircut. 1837 CHALMERS Lect. Rom. I. iv. 68 They chain it, as it were, in the *prison-hold of their own corruptions. 1933 J. BUCHAN Prince of Captivity II. i. 178 You would spend some weeks in a *prison hospital till they patched you up. 1943 F. THOMPSON Candleford Green ix. 142 Such a journey..and a prison hospital..at the end of it. 1978 P. G. WINSLOW Coppergold 48 He fell a victim to influenza..was taken to the prison hospital. 1727-46 THOMSON Summer 1507 Raleigh..with his *prison-hours enrich'd the world. 1855 DICKENS Dorrit (1857) I. i. 4 The *prison-keeper appeared carrying..a basket. 1881 W. W. NEWTON Serm. Boys & Girls 2 Order the prison-keepers to let me go. 1967 H. PINTER Night School in Tea Party & Other Plays 101, I was running the *prison library. 1979 K. BONFIGLIOLI After You with Pistol vi. 31 He gets a nice job in the prison library but horrid things happen to him in the showers. 1839 E. A. POE in Burton's Gentleman's Mag. Oct. 206 This *prison-like rampart formed the limits of our domain. 1847 SMEATON Builder's Man. 198 Far superior to the bald and prison-like structures which haunt the metropolis. 1916 D. H. LAWRENCE Amores 77 The town Glimmers with subtle ghosts Going up and down In a common, prison-like dress. 1944 A. L. ROWSE Eng. Spirit xxxv. 244 That sepulchral, prison-like building. 1970 P. DICKINSON Seals ii. 53 Many criminals..are really only happy..when..their day is shaped by a prison-like discipline. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 21 Feb. 3/3 Legislation..effectual in keeping out of this country *prison-made goods. 1905 Daily Chron. 20 May 3/1 The prison-made workman is liable to be spotted in an outside factory. 1907 B. THOMSON Story of Dartmoor Prison xxi. 260 The better class of men came to realize that *prison officers were their friends rather than their enemies. 1961 Observer 9 Apr. 22/8 He refers to prison officers as prison warders, a title abandoned something like thirty years ago. 1978 P. LOVESEY Waxwork 79 It is quite impossible to conduct a conversation through an iron grille with two prison officers at my client's shoulder. 1935 A. J. CRONIN Stars look Down II. xx. 446 He sat there with his *prison pallor upon him. 1977 New Yorker 24 Oct. 141/1 He squints into the unaccustomed sunlight..and..suffers from a case of prison pallor. 1891 Daily News 22 Jan. 7/2 [An] officer of the Mendicity Society produced a *prison photograph of prisoner. 1677 (title) *Prison-Pietie: or, Meditations Divine and Moral. Digested into Poetical Heads..By Samuel Speed, Prisoner in Ludgate. 1646 P. BULKELEY Gospel Covt. I. 21 To see the children of our father in the dungeon, and *prison-pit. 1890 W. BOOTH In Darkest Eng. I. ix. 74 Once the work of *Prison Reform is taken in hand by men..who are in full sympathy with the class for whose benefit they labour. 1972 A. ROUDYBUSH Sybaritic Death (1974) vii. 67 His original project had been to devote his activities to the cause of prison reform. 1810 SCOTT Lady of L. VI. xii, 'Twas a *prison-room Of stern security and gloom. 1795 NELSON in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 47, I am not Captain of the Ca Ira. At present she is a *Prison-ship. 1553 BRENDE Q. Curtius v. 83 Shall our chyldren, shall our brethren acknowledge vs, beyng *prison slaues? 1866 J. H. NEWMAN Gerontius i. 12 Rescue..the two Apostles from their *prison-thrall. 1835 L. E. LANDON Misc. Poems 23 When she left her *prison-tower..It was to seek the sea-beat strand. 1858 SIMMONDS Dict. Trade, *Prison-van, a police carriage for conveying prisoners to and from a court of justice. 1880 G. R. SIMS Three Brass Balls xvii, The time when `Black Maria', the prison van, stands waiting at the door. 1838 H. MARTINEAU Retrospect of Western Travel I. 224, I trust that the practice of *prison-visiting will gain ground. 1973 L. COOPER Tea on Sunday i. 21 Barry Slater, the unfortunate legacy of Alberta's spell of prison visiting. 1837 H. MARTINEAU Society in Amer. II. III. iv. 285 Every *prison visitor has been conscious, on first conversing privately with a criminal, of a feeling of surprise at finding him so human. 1975 N. FREELING What are Bugles blowing For? xv. 88 Vera made a good prison visitor. 1593 SHAKS. Rich. II, V. v. 21 The Flinty ribbes Of this hard world, my ragged *prison walles. 1706 WATTS Horae Lyr. I. Happy Frailty xii, Devotion breaks the prison-walls, And speeds my last remove. 1855 TROLLOPE Warden xvi. 248 No convict, slipping down from a prison wall, ever feared to see the gaoler more entirely than Mr. Harding did to see his son-in-law. 1898 O. WILDE Ballad of Reading Gaol 16 The weeping prison-wall. 1951 M. KENNEDY Lucy Carmichael I. vii. 62 Rickie peeped for a moment over the prison walls of his own depression. A. 1902 S. BUTLER Way of All Flesh (1903) lxiv. 286 The *prison warder..sent for the doctor. 1914 Prison Officers Mag. Nov. 450/2 For the past four years the majority of the Irish Prison Warders have favoured us with their confidence and support. 1928 [see WARDERING vbl. sb.]. 1961 [see prison officer above]. 1978 M. BUTTERWORTH X marks Spot 179 With two escorting prison warders as witnesses. 1655 (title) The Oppressed Close Prisoner In Windsor-Castle, his Defiance to The Father of Lyes. By Chr. Feake, in his *Prison-Watch-tower. 1898 Daily News 19 Nov. 6/3 It took half a dozen of these poor nerveless *prison women to do what one ordinary energetic laundry woman would accomplish. 1642 in Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1877) II. 70 The Constables are appointed..to take care for the building a salt peter howse in the *prison yarde. 1776 Jrnls. Continental Congress U.S. (1906) IV. 121 Resolved, That the said J. Connolly be allowed..to walk in the prison yard or hall. 1851 J. J. LANCASTER in Rep. Sel. Comm. Passengers' Act 142 in Parl. Papers XIX. 1 Those in Millbank [sc. a London military hospital] are drawn up in the prison-yard or wards. 1856 DICKENS Dorrit (1857) II. vi. 383 They prowled about..in the old, dreary, prison-yard manner. 1963 N. MARSH Dead Water (1964) v. 126 She..walked aimlessly..as if the garden were a prison yard. prison ('prIz(&schwa.)n), v. Forms: see the sb. [f. PRISON sb.] trans. To put in prison, make a prisoner of; to incarcerate; to keep in a prison or other place of confinement; to detain in custody. Now poet. or rhet., and north. dial. (the usual word for the literal sense being IMPRISON). 1292 BRITTON I. xii. Sect.6 Mes les prisounez pur felounie en nule manere voloms suffrer de nul homme enpleder. A. 1300 Cursor M. 4484 (Gott.) First men stal me [Joseph] fra mi thede And presuned [v.rr. prisund, prisoned] me, sacles of dede. C. 1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. (1810) 101 Sir William Crispyn with pe duke was led, Togider prisoned. C. 1380 WYCLIF Wks. (1880) 79 So trewe prestis schullen be cursed & prisoned. 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) IV. 181 His felawes were..i-prisoned to her lyves ende. 1432-50 tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 39 Cordeilla the do3ter of kynge Leir,..whom Morganus and Cunedagius prisonede at the laste. 1526 TINDALE Acts xxii. 19, I presoned and bett in euery sinagoge them that beleued on the. 1542 BRINKLOW Compl. xii. 29 Many tymes thei preson men for their fryndes pleasure. 1608 SYLVESTER Du Bartas II. iv. IV. Decay 1104 Even as a Lion pris'ned in his grate,..Roars hideously. 1813 BYRON Corsair II. xi, A chief on land-an outlaw on the deep-Destroying-saving-prison'd-and asleep! 1903 in Eng. Dial. Dict. instanced from Shetland Is. to Mid Yorksh. b transf. and fig. To restrain from liberty of movement; to confine; = IMPRISON 1 b and 2. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) IV. xxxviii. (1859) 67 Here myght thou see the meschyef of vntrewe counceylle, that made this gentil Lyberalite prisond. 1450-1530 Myrr. our Ladye 11 Whyle our soulles ar prysoned in these dedly bodyes. 1593 SHAKS. Lucr. 642 His true respect will prison false desire. 1633 BP. HALL Hard Texts, N.T. 358 Whose spirits are now fast prisoned in Hell. 1742 YOUNG Nt. Th. III. 524 From winds, and waves, and central night, Tho' prison'd there, my dust too I reclaim. 1847 C. BRONTE J. Eyre xxxvii, I arrested his wandering hand, and prisoned it in both mine. 1878 BROWNING Poets Croisic xxv, Why prison his career while Christendom Lay open to reward acknowledged worth? Hence 'prisoned ppl. a., confined in or as in a prison; imprisoned. A. 1327 in Pol. Poems (Camden) 202 The lafful man ssal be i-bund,..And i-holdin fast prisund. C. 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS.B.) 378, I pray pe, lord..To hom pat are..seke or prisonde, or o-pon po see..til alle hom, pou sende socoure. 1598 SYLVESTER Du Bartas II. i. III. Furies 462 W[th] prisoned winds the wringling Colick pains them. 1790 COWPER Stanzas 2 Where the prison'd lark is hung. 1811 SCOTT Don Roderick xxxii, The groans of prisoned victims mar the lays. A. 1881 ROSSETTI House of Life iii, Thine eyes Draw up my prisoned spirit to thy Soul.