Confine CON'FINE, n. [L., at the end or border, adjoining; a limit;
end, border, limit. See Fine.] Border; edge; exterior part; the part
of any territory which is at or near the end or extremity. It is used
generally in the plural, and applied chiefly to the countries, territory,
cities, rivers, etc. We say, the confines of France, or of Scotland,
and figuratively, the confines of light, of death, or the grave;
but never, the confines of a book, table or small piece of land. CON'FINE, a. Bordering on; lying on the border; adjacent; having
a common boundary. CON'FINE, v.i. To border on; to touch
the limit; to be adjacent or contiguous, as one territory, kingdom or
state to another; usually followed by on; sometimes by with. England
confines on Scotland. Connecticut confines on Massachusets, New-York,
Rhode Island and the sound. CONFI'NE, v.t. [See Supra.]
1. To bound or limit; to restrain within limits; hence, to imprison; to
shut up; to restrain from escape by force or insurmountable obstacles,
in a general sense; as, to confine horses or cattle to an inclosure;
to confine water in a pond, to dam; to confine a garrison in a town;
to confine a criminal in prison. 2. To immure; to deep close, by a
voluntary act; to be much at home or in retirement; as, a man confines
himself to his studies, or to his house. 3. To limit or restrain
voluntarily, in some act or practice; as, a man may confine himself to the
use of animal food. 4. To tie or bind; to make fast or close; as, to
confine air in a bladder, or corn in a bag or sack. 5. To restrain by
a moral force; as, to confine men by laws. The constitution of the United
States confines the states to the exercise of powers of a local nature.
confine
v 1: place limits on (extent or access); "restrict the use of
this parking lot"; "limit the time you can spend with your
friends" [syn: restrict, restrain, trammel, limit,
bound, confine, throttle]
2: restrict or confine, "I limit you to two visits to the pub a
day" [syn: limit, circumscribe, confine]
3: prevent from leaving or from being removed
4: close in; darkness enclosed him" [syn: enclose, hold in,
confine]
5: deprive of freedom; take into confinement [syn: confine,
detain] [ant: free, liberate, loose, release,
unloose, unloosen]
6: to close within bounds, limit or hold back from movement;
"This holds the local until the express passengers change
trains"; "About a dozen animals were held inside the
stockade"; "The illegal immigrants were held at a detention
center"; "The terrorists held the journalists for ransom"
[syn: restrain, confine, hold]
confine
c.1400, from L. confinium (pl. confinia) "boundary, limit," from confine,
neut. of confinis "bordering on," from com- "with" + finis "an end." The
noun is older in Eng.; verb sense of "keeping within limits" is from
1595. Confinement is from 1595, as a euphemism for "childbed" it dates
from 1774 (the M.E. expression was Our Lady's bands).
confine I. nounEtymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French
confines, plural, from Latin confine border, from neuter of
confinis adjacent, from com- + finis end Date:
15th century 1.plurala. something (as borders or walls) that encloses <outside the
confines of the office or hospital — W. A. Nolen>;
also something that restrains <escape from the
confines of soot and clutter — E. S. Muskie> b.scope 3 <work within the confines of a small group
— Frank Newman>
2.a.archaicrestrictionb.obsoleteprisonII. verb (confined; confining)
Date: 1523 intransitive verbarchaicbordertransitive verb1.a. to hold within a location b.imprison2. to keep within limits <will confine my remarks to
one subject> Synonyms:seelimit • confinernoun
confine v. & n. --v.tr. (often foll. by in, to, within) 1 keep or restrict (within certain limits etc.). 2 hold captive; imprison. --n. (usu. in pl.) a limit or boundary (within the
confines of the town). Phrases and idioms: be confined be in childbirth. Etymology: (v.) f. F confiner, (n.) ME f. F confins (pl.), f. L confinia (as com-, finia neut. pl. f.
finis end, limit)
confine
(confines confining, confined)
1. To confine something to a particular place or group means to prevent it from
spreading beyond that place or group.
Health officials have successfully confined the epidemic to the Tabatinga area...The US will soon be taking steps to confine the conflict.= restrict
VERB: V n to n, V n
2. If you confineyourself or your activities to something, you do only
that thing and are involved with nothing else.
He did not confine himself to the one language...His genius was not confined to the decoration of buildings.= limit, restrict
VERB: V pron-refl to n, V-ed
3. If someone is confined to a mental institution, prison, or other place, they are
sent there and are not allowed to leave for a period of time.
The woman will be confined to a mental institution...VERB: usu passive, be V-ed to n
4. Something that is within the confinesof an area or place is within the
boundaries enclosing it. (FORMAL)
The movie is set entirely within the confines of the abandoned factory.N-PLURAL: usu prep the N of n
5. The confinesof a situation, system, or activity are the limits or restrictions
it involves.
...away from the confines of the British class system...I can't stand the confines of this marriage.= constraints
N-PLURAL: usu the N of n
confine
kənˈfaɪn v. & n. --v.tr. (often foll. by in, to, within)
1 keep or restrict (within certain limits etc.). 2 hold captive;
imprison. --n. (usu. in pl.) a limit or boundary (within the confines of
the town). øbe confined be in childbirth. [(v.) f. F confiner, (n.) ME f. F
confins (pl.), f. L confinia (as com-, finia neut. pl. f. finis end, limit)]
Confine \Con"fine\ (? or ?); 277), v. i.
To have a common boundary; to border; to lie contiguous; to
touch; -- followed by on or with. [Obs.]
Where your gloomy bounds Confine with heaven. --Milton.
Bewixt heaven and earth and skies there stands a place.
Confining on all three. --Dryden.
Confine \Con"fine\, n.
1. Common boundary; border; limit; -- used chiefly in the
plural.
Events that came to pass within the confines of
Judea. --Locke.
And now in little space The confines met of empyrean
heaven, And of this world. --Milton.
On the confines of the city and the Temple.
--Macaulay.
2. Apartment; place of restraint; prison. [Obs.]
Confines, wards, and dungeons. --Shak.
The extravagant and erring spirit hies To his
confine. --Shak.
Confine \Con*fine"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Confined; p. pr. &
vb. n. Confining.] [F. confiner to border upon, LL.
confinare to set bounds to; con- + finis boundary, end. See
Final, Finish.]
To restrain within limits; to restrict; to limit; to bound;
to shut up; to inclose; to keep close.
Now let not nature's hand Keep the wild flood confined!
let order die! --Shak.
He is to confine himself to the compass of numbers and
the slavery of rhyme. --Dryden.
To be confined, to be in childbed.
Syn: To bound; limit; restrain; imprison; immure; inclose;
circumscribe; restrict.
confine
I. n.
Boundary, border, limit, frontier.
II. v. a.1. Restrain, shut up, shut in.
2. Imprison, immure, incarcerate.
3. Limit, circumscribe, bound, restrict.
On most web browsers you can double click any word on this page to see what definitions I have for that word.
This dictionary server is not an authoratative source of information for anything. Like almost everything at sorabji.com, I set this up for my own purposes. In this case the purpose is to
browse words and ideas at random. An automatically generated page that produces 1000 Random Words
is my gateway to this resource. I also attempt a word of the day project,
in which I attempt to write something about myself starting with interesting words that I find through the Wordswarm Random Words Pages. I have made
available the complete 1828 Webster's Dictionary, which many feel is the greatest English dictionary ever published.
Other random links of mine include the Sorabji.com Random Link, which sends you to one of
over 7,000 pages on my web sites; the Face Server produces random images of
human faces; clicking the Random WAYD link shows you a random posting to my "What Are You Doing?" board; the Random USPS
Mailbox link sends you to a page with information about a random mailbox; and the random pictures page page of sorabji.com shows one of over 11,000 random images any time you load the page. On an unrelated note, I have begun making several thousand pages of legal documents searchable.