borstal
nounEtymology Inherited from Middle English *borstile, *borghstile, from Old English beorh (“a hill”) + stigel (“a stile”). The institutions are named after Borstal Prison in Borstal, Rochester, Kent, England.
1
UK A way up a hill in the South Downs.
2
Historical Any of the prisons set up in Britain for delinquent boys from 1895 to 1983.
- You have juvenile courts. Do you have borstal institutions for juveniles?2004, August 3, Speaker of the Kenyan National Assembly, Kenya National Assembly Official Record, Hansard, page 3126
- Seven years ago, I was sent to borstal. Slithering around in the societal sludge, I was forced to admit I'd made a huge mistake – committing robbery.2011 November 7, Paris Lees, “My Transsexual Summer: a new view of gender”, in The Guardian:
- Derived terms
- Borstalian, borstal training