Adjacent Words

Imprison definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IMPRIS'ON, v.t. impriz'n.
1. To put into a prison; to confine in a prison or jail, or to arrest and detain in custody in any place.
2. To confine; to shut up; to restrain from escape; to deprive of the liberty to move from place to place; as, to be imprisoned in a cell.
He imprisoned was in chains remediless.
Try to imprison the resistless winds.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: lock up or confine, in or as in a jail; "The suspects were imprisoned without trial"; "the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life" [syn: imprison, incarcerate, lag, immure, put behind bars, jail, jug, gaol, put away, remand]
2: confine as if in a prison; "His daughters are virtually imprisoned in their own house; he does not let them go out without a chaperone"

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French emprisoner, from en- + prison prison Date: 14th century to put in or as if in prison ; confine • imprisonment noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 put into prison. 2 confine; shut up. Derivatives: imprisonment n. Etymology: ME f. OF emprisoner (as EN-(1), PRISON)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Imprison Im*pris"on, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Imprisoned; p. pr. & vb. n. Imprisoning.] [OE. enprisonen, OF. enprisoner, F. emprisonner; pref. en- (L. in) + F. & OF. prison. See Prison.] 1. To put in prison or jail; To arrest and detain in custody; to confine. He imprisoned was in chains remediles. --Spenser. 2. To limit, restrain, or confine in any way. Try to imprison the resistless wind. --Dryden. Syn: To incarcerate; confine; immure.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(imprisons, imprisoning, imprisoned) If someone is imprisoned, they are locked up or kept somewhere, usually in prison as a punishment for a crime or for political opposition. The local priest was imprisoned for 18 months on charges of anti-state agitation... Dutch colonial authorities imprisoned him for his part in the independence movement. VERB: be V-ed, V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Incarcerate, immure, confine, commit, shut up, put in duress or durance, place in confinement.

Moby Thesaurus

bastille, beleaguer, beset, besiege, blockade, bolt in, bound, box in, cage, cast in prison, chamber, check, circumscribe, clap in jail, clap up, close in, compass, confine, constrain, contain, coop, coop in, coop up, cordon, cordon off, corral, curb, detain, encircle, enclose, encompass, enshrine, fence in, gaol, hedge in, hem in, hold captive, hold in captivity, hold prisoner, house in, immure, impound, incarcerate, include, intern, jail, jug, kennel, leaguer, limit, lock in, lock up, mew, mew up, pen, pen in, pocket, prison, put away, quarantine, quod, rail in, release, remand, restrain, restrict, send down, shrine, shut in, shut up, stable, surround, throw into jail, wall in, wrap, yard, yard up