convictism
nounEtymology From convict + -ism.
1
The policy or practice of transporting convicts to penal settlements, especially in Australia.
2
The convict system as embodied in its subjects; convicts as a group; the convict class.
- So, in virtue of this last appeal, convictism had established a tacit right to converse in whispers, and to move about inside its oaken cage.1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of his Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 51:
- It was the simple expression of a necessity for clearing away from home a pressing amount of convictism, and of thus giving to this corrupt portion of society a means of regeneration1865, William Howitt, The History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand […] :
- Synonyms
- transportation