Middle English Dictionary Entry

prisǒun n.
Quotations: Show all Hide all

Entry Info

Forms prisǒun n. Also prisen, prisun, prison & presoun, preson(ne, presun, presoin, presowun & preason, preison & (errors) prisund, þrisun.
Etymology OF prison, proison & ML priso, -ōnis.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) Incarceration, imprisonment, confinement; in ~, imprisoned; sute of ~, ?a fee exacted from prisoners or persons subject to arrest; ?a charge intended to result in imprisonment; (b) don in (into, on) ~, closen into ~, fetten to ~, leden to ~, leien in ~, senden into ~, setten in ~, shitten up in ~, thristen in ~, throuen in ~, to put (sb.) in jail, imprison; (c) casten in (into) ~, putten in (into, to) ~; (d) bilouken (haven, holden, kepen, sperren) in ~, to keep (sb.) in prison, keep locked up; (e) comen (gon) into ~, wenden to ~, to go to jail, be imprisoned; lien in ~, remain in jail, be in prison; (f) awei from ~, of ~, oute of ~, from jail, out of prison; of ~ fre, free from confinement; (g) breken ~, to break jail, escape confinement.
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2.
(a) A place of confinement, a dungeon, jail; ordinaries ~, a prison under the jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical ordinary; brekinge of ~, escaping from a jail; breken ~, to escape from a jail; (b) strong ~, ~ strong, fast ~, ~ fast, hard ~, a strong dungeon, secure prison; dep (derk) ~, deep (dark) dungeon; ~ foul, a filthy dungeon; fre ~, ?a well-appointed jail, ?a jail in which one may move about; streit prisounes, narrow cells; (c) a cage for partridges or for a lion; to ~, as a cage [1st quot.].
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3.
Fig. The world, the body, sin, blindness, etc., as a prison; also, a fish pond as a prison for fish.
Show 13 Quotations
4.
Hell; purgatory; confinement in hell; an enclosure in hell [quot.: Nicod.(4)]; fre ~, loose confinement in hell, a place of imprisonment without pain (as specifically in Limbo); helle ~, imprisonment in hell [quot.: LDirige(1)]; also, domination by hell [quot.: Of alle þe ioyus]; develes~, ~ of the devel, domination by the Devil; ~ of helle, hell; also, domination by hell [quot.: (c1390)].
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5.
In cpds. and combs.: ~ hous, jail, prison; ~ dore, prison door; ~ ground (pit), dungeon; prisoun(es pine, torture; ~ stie, prison enclosure; to ~ ward, toward imprisonment.
Show 14 Quotations
6.
(a) Custody, control; in..~, in (somebody's) power or care; (b) captivity, bondage, servitude; also, the condition of being besieged; (c) hiding, exile; (d) holden in ~, to keep (gases) from escaping.
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7.
(a) A prisoner, captive; in ~ stat, like a prisoner; fre ~, ?unfettered prisoner; (b) to (his) ~, as (his) prisoner; nimen (taken) to ~, to take (sb.) captive; sones of taken to ~, sons of those taken captive; (c) a captive of a devil, of death, purgatory, hell, sin, etc.; also, a man as captive of a woman's charms; (d) a wretch, miserable man; goddes prisounes, God's poor; (e) as surname.
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8.
Some device for stretching cloth.
Show 1 Quotation

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • ?c1250 Ar ne kuthe (Gldh)26 : Foryhef hem the wykke men, god, yhef it is thi wille, for wos gelt we bed ipelt in thos prisun hille.
    • Note: Eckwall Stockholm Studies in Modern Philology 17 (1949) p. 45 says h is inorganic and the phrase should be glossed "prison's ills"; presumably 'prisons ill' is also possible -- in either case, sense 2.

Supplemental Materials (draft)

Note: There are Latin analogs to the phrase fre prisoun. See, e.g., DMLBS the phrase carcer liber, s.v. carcer, defined as "free custody" (c 1258 "dicit quod senescallus .. optulit ei predictam marcam pro predicto T. et aliis per sic quod possunt esse in libero carcere" (JustIt 873) SelCWW 85 (cf. ib. 112: "in libera prisona")." Also DMLBS s.v. liber, the phrases ~era custodia, ~era prisona, defined as ('apparently'), "confinement, or prison, in which freedom of movement is allowed" : "solutus est sanctus et in ~era custodia tentus" W. Malm. GP III 101; "ab hominibus ejus captus, in ~era custodia habebatur" Id. GR IV 349; 1333 "nullus patriota debet imprisonari in castro, nisi in casu criminali vitam vel membrum tangenti, .. sed in aliis ~eris prisonis ad hoc deputatis" (Cust.) CartINorm. p. 3."

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