This week’s theme
Words for prisons

This week’s words
bridewell
gulag
calaboose
panopticon
lob's pound

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KAL-uh-boos)

MEANING:

noun: A prison.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Louisiana French calabouse, from Spanish calabozo (dungeon), from Latin calafodium, from fodere (to dig). Earliest documented use: 1797. Another Spanish word for a prison that has become part of the English language is hoosegow.

USAGE:

“[Hasan Baswaid] put his hands together as if he were in handcuffs. ‘This could put you in the calaboose,’ he said with a sheepish grin.”
Lawrence Wright; The Kingdom of Silence; The New Yorker; Jan 5, 2004.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: