PRISON HOUSE

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prison house mean? 

• PRISON HOUSE (noun)
  The noun PRISON HOUSE has 2 senses:

1. a prisonlike situation; a place of seeming confinement

2. a correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment

  Familiarity information: PRISON HOUSE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRISON HOUSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A prisonlike situation; a place of seeming confinement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

prison; prison house

Hypernyms ("prison house" is a kind of...):

situation; state of affairs (the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A correctional institution where persons are confined while on trial or for punishment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

prison; prison house

Hypernyms ("prison house" is a kind of...):

correctional institution (a penal institution maintained by the government)

Meronyms (parts of "prison house"):

cellblock; ward (a division of a prison (usually consisting of several cells))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "prison house"):

bastille (a jail or prison (especially one that is run in a tyrannical manner))

chokey; choky (British slang (dated) for a prison)

nick ((British slang) a prison)

panopticon (a circular prison with cells distributed around a central surveillance station; proposed by Jeremy Bentham in 1791)

state prison (a prison maintained by a state of the U.S.)

Instance hyponyms:

Newgate (a former prison in London notorious for its unsanitary conditions and burnt down in riots in 1780; a new prison was built on the same spot but was torn down in 1902)