Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To put in or as if in prison; confine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To put into a prison; confine in a prison or jail; detain in custody.
  • To confine, limit, or restrain in any way or by any means.
  • Synonyms To incarcerate, immure.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To put in prison or jail; To arrest and detain in custody; to confine.
  • transitive verb To limit, restrain, or confine in any way.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To put in or as if in prison; confine.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb confine as if in a prison
  • verb lock up or confine, in or as in a jail

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en-, in (from Latin in-; see in–) + prison, prison; see prison.]

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Examples

  • I don't know if yesterday's Supreme Court ruling is really going to lead to the apocalypse predicted by so many, or if the corporate influence on American politics is already at its absolute maximum and this is merely going to alter the number of tools in the fat cats 'political influence toolkit … But I find myself having the same naive reaction to the notion of "corporate personhood" that I've always had when it's come up: If corporations are persons in the eyes of the law, why has no one pursued the argument that we can do to corporations what we routinely do to persons, namely imprison and execute them?

    NYT > Opinion 2010

  • Having already set himself free, no-one could 'imprison' him, no matter what they did.

    8 posts from January 2010 2010

  • Having already set himself free, no-one could 'imprison' him, no matter what they did.

    grace 2010

  • Having already set himself free, no-one could 'imprison' him, no matter what they did.

    grace 2010

  • Having already set himself free, no-one could 'imprison' him, no matter what they did.

    Integrity 2010

  • Having already set himself free, no-one could 'imprison' him, no matter what they did.

    Expression 2010

  • It also called my attention to the ways I "imprison" myself by putting pressure on myself with unnecessary demands and expectations.

    Anne Naylor: How To Nourish The Spirit Of Youth In You 2009

  • Keenan's poetic "An Evil Cradling," which he describes as a literary attempt to "imprison" insanity on paper in the same way he held it at bay while in captivity, topped The Sunday Times of London's bestseller list for nine weeks last year.

    Best Sellers In Chains 2008

  • The office was closed just days after former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who had pledged to "imprison" himself in his apartment until President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) left office, traveled to the US on Feb. 15, reportedly for medical treatment.

    Shih Betrays Again Michael Turton 2007

  • For instance, the decision to become a mass party is explained away (p12); while ANC leaders 'input into debates on the character of the SACP is aimed "... ostensibly to' imprison 'the SACP and the left to' outmoded 'alliance traditions and methods as an attempt to' liquidate 'it (p8) ".

    MANAGING NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC TRANSFORMATION 2006

Comments

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  • Kangaroo word with Joey PIN -- imPrIsoN

    November 18, 2013