Adjacent Words

Dungeon definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DUNGEON, n.
1. A close prison; or a deep, dark place of confinement.
And in a dungeon deep.
They brought Joseph hastily out of the dungeon. Genesis 41.
2. A subterraneous place of close confinement.
DUNGEON, v.t. To confine in a dungeon.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the main tower within the walls of a medieval castle or fortress [syn: keep, donjon, dungeon]
2: a dark cell (usually underground) where prisoners can be confined

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English dongeon, donjon, from Anglo-French donjun, from Vulgar Latin *domnion-, domnio keep, mastery, from Latin dominus lord — more at dominate Date: 14th century 1. donjon 2. a dark usually underground prison or vault

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a strong underground cell for prisoners. 2 archaic a donjon. --v.tr. archaic (usu. foll. by up) imprison in a dungeon. Etymology: orig. = donjon: ME f. OF donjon ult. f. L dominus lord

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dungeon Dun"geon, v. t. To shut up in a dungeon. --Bp. Hall.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dungeon Dun"geon, n. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a castle, LL. domnio, the same word as LL. dominus lord. See Dame, Don, and cf. Dominion, Domain, Demesne, Danger, Donjon.] A close, dark prison, common?, under ground, as if the lower apartments of the donjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. Down with him even into the deep dungeon. -- Tyndale. Year after year he lay patiently in a dungeon. -- Macaulay.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dungeons) A dungeon is a dark underground prison in a castle. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

different from the ordinary prison in being more severe as a place of punishment. Like the Roman inner prison (Acts 16:24), it consisted of a deep cell or cistern (Jer. 38:6). To be shut up in, a punishment common in Egypt (Gen. 39:20; 40:3; 41:10; 42:19). It is not mentioned, however, in the law of Moses as a mode of punishment. Under the later kings imprisonment was frequently used as a punishment (2 Chron. 16:10; Jer. 20:2; 32:2; 33:1; 37:15), and it was customary after the Exile (Matt. 11:2; Luke 3:20; Acts 5:18, 21; Matt. 18:30).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dun'-jun. See PRISON.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Prison (especially one underground and dark), keep, donjon-keep.

Moby Thesaurus

POW camp, bastille, black hole, borstal, borstal institution, bridewell, brig, cell, concentration camp, condemned cell, death cell, death house, death row, detention camp, donjon, federal prison, forced-labor camp, gaol, guardhouse, house of correction, house of detention, industrial school, internment camp, jail, jailhouse, keep, labor camp, lockup, maximum-security prison, minimum-security prison, oubliette, pen, penal colony, penal institution, penal settlement, penitentiary, prison, prison camp, prisonhouse, reform school, reformatory, sponging house, state prison, stockade, stronghold, the hole, tollbooth, training school, vault