imprison
verb/ɪmˈpɹɪzən/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English imprisonen, emprisounen, emprisonen, from Old French emprisonner. Equivalent to im- + prison.
1
To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will.
- One of the village's most notable sons was Thomas Grantham, a Baptist church leader born in 1634, who was persecuted and imprisoned in the struggle for nonconformist beliefs during the reign of Charles II.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 214, about Halton Holegate:
- None of these people has ever had what they really wanted, and if they get a glimmer of it, they back off suspiciously, failures of imagination helping to imprison them further.1985 December 21, Mara Math, “Fen (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 23, page 15:
1 more example
- [...] demand for the boots fell sharply after the Battle of Waterloo, and Brunel was imprisoned for debt in 1821.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 87:
- Synonyms
- bang up, gaol, jail, lock up, put away, immure, send to the Tower, bastille, clap up, confine, incarcerate, imprison, mew up, roof, send down
- Derived terms
- disimprison, imprisonable, imprisoner, imprisonment, reimprison, unimprison
- Related terms
- be in for, behind bars, sent to the Tower, prison, prisoner