imprison

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#IMPRISONCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#IMPRISON imprisonen, emprisounen, emprisonen, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#IMPRISON emprisonner. Equivalent to im- +‎ prisonCategory:English terms prefixed with im-#PRISON.

Pronunciation

Verb

imprison (third-person singular simple present imprisons, present participle imprisoning, simple past and past participle imprisoned)Category:English lemmas#IMPRISONCategory:English verbs#IMPRISONCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#IMPRISONCategory:Pages with entries#IMPRISONCategory:Pages with 1 entry#IMPRISON

  1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#IMPRISON) To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will.
    • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 214, about Halton Holegate:
      One of the village's most notable sons was Thomas Grantham, a Baptist church leader born in 1634, who was persecuted and imprisoned in the struggle for nonconformist beliefs during the reign of Charles II.
      Category:English terms with quotations#IMPRISON
    • 1985 December 21, Mara Math, “Fen (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 23, page 15:
      None of these people has ever had what they really wanted, and if they get a glimmer of it, they back off suspiciously, failures of imagination helping to imprison them further.
      Category:English terms with quotations#IMPRISON
    • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 87:
      [...] demand for the boots fell sharply after the Battle of Waterloo, and Brunel was imprisoned for debt in 1821.
      Category:English terms with quotations#IMPRISON

Usage notes

  • The term to imprison implies a sentencing has taken place when used to describe actions taken by a legal system, whereas to jail may imply a temporary holding before a trial, conviction, and sentencing.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Category:en:Prison#IMPRISON
Category:British English Category:English 3-syllable words Category:English colloquialisms Category:English lemmas Category:English terms derived from Middle English Category:English terms derived from Old French Category:English terms inherited from Middle English Category:English terms prefixed with im- Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation Category:English terms with audio pronunciation Category:English terms with quotations Category:English transitive verbs Category:English verbs Category:Entries with translation boxes Category:Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations Category:Pages with 1 entry Category:Pages with entries Category:Rhymes:English/ɪzən Category:Rhymes:English/ɪzən/3 syllables Category:Terms with Albanian translations Category:Terms with Ancient Greek translations Category:Terms with Arabic translations Category:Terms with Armenian translations Category:Terms with Asturian translations Category:Terms with Bulgarian translations Category:Terms with Catalan translations Category:Terms with Cherokee translations Category:Terms with Choctaw translations Category:Terms with Chukchi translations Category:Terms with Czech translations Category:Terms with Danish translations Category:Terms with Dongxiang translations Category:Terms with Egyptian Arabic translations Category:Terms with Esperanto translations Category:Terms with Finnish translations Category:Terms with French translations Category:Terms with German translations Category:Terms with Greek translations Category:Terms with Hawaiian translations Category:Terms with Hungarian translations Category:Terms with Icelandic translations Category:Terms with Indonesian translations Category:Terms with Irish translations Category:Terms with Italian translations Category:Terms with Japanese translations Category:Terms with Korean translations Category:Terms with Macedonian translations Category:Terms with Mandarin translations Category:Terms with Manx translations Category:Terms with Mongolian translations Category:Terms with Moroccan Arabic translations Category:Terms with Māori translations Category:Terms with Norman translations Category:Terms with Norwegian translations Category:Terms with Old English translations Category:Terms with Old French translations Category:Terms with Polish translations Category:Terms with Portuguese translations Category:Terms with Romanian translations Category:Terms with Russian translations Category:Terms with Slovak translations Category:Terms with Spanish translations Category:Terms with Swahili translations Category:Terms with Swedish translations Category:Terms with Thai translations Category:Terms with Ukrainian translations Category:Terms with Vietnamese translations Category:Terms with Volapük translations Category:Terms with Walloon translations Category:Terms with Welsh translations Category:en:Prison