Association of British Scrabble Players

Society > Law > Prisons


Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.


barracoon an enclosure or barrack formerly used for temporary confinement of slaves or convicts.
borstal borstall an establishment for the detention of young adult delinquents.
bridewell a house of correction, a jail.
bullpen a pen for a bull; a similar enclosure for prisoners.
calaboose a prison, jail. [Sp. calabozo, dungeon].
carceral of or relating to prisons.
cellblock a group of prison cells.
chokey choky (coll.) a prison. CHOKY is also an adjective: tending to choke or suffocate > CHOKIER, CHOKIEST.
clink (coll.) prison.
cooler (coll.) a prison.
coprisoner a fellow-prisoner.
disprison to let loose from prison, to set at liberty.
dungeon an undergroud prison; (verb) to confine in a dungeon.
dungeoner a gaoler.
durance imprisonment.
endungeon to shut up in a dungeon.
engaol to put in gaol.
gaol a prison; (verb) to put in gaol.
gaolbreak an escape from gaol; (verb) to escape from gaol > GAOLBREAKING, GAOLBROKE, GAOLBROKEN.
gaolless without a gaol.
glasshouse a military detention barracks.
guardhouse a building for the accommodation of a military guard, and where prisoners are confined.
guardroom a room having the same function as a guardhouse.
gulag the system of political prisons and forced labour camps in the USSR.
hoosegow hoosgow (US sl.) a prison, jail. [Sp. juzgado, judgment].
imprison to confine in a prison.
imprisonment the act of imprisoning.
incarcerate to put in prison.
intern to confine esp. during a war.
jail a prison; (verb) to put in jail.
jailable as in a jailable offence.
jailbreak an escape from jail; (verb) to escape from jail > JAILBREAKING, JAILBROKE, JAILBROKEN.
jailbreaker one who escapes from jail..
jailhouse a prison.
jailless without a jail.
juvie a juvenile detention centre.
katorga penal servitude, hard labour, esp. in the labour camps of Stalin.
laogai in China, a forced labour camp > LAOGAIS. [LAOdong GAIzao, labor + reform].
lockdown confinement of prisoners to their cells all day.
lockup a cell for locking up prisoners.
massymore a subterranean prison.
oflag a German prison camp for officers.
oubliette a dungeon with an opening only at the top.
panopticon a prison in which all prisoners can be watched from one point.
penitentiary in N. American, a prison.
pokey poky (coll.) jail. POKY is also an adjective: cramped: POKIER, POKIEST; POKILY.
postprison after release from prison.
prison a place of confinement; (verb) to imprison.
prisoner one that is imprisoned.
prisonment (Shakesp.) imprisonment.
prisonous (Dickens) of or like a prison.
quad quod (coll.) prison; (verb) to imprison.
reformatory a penal institution to which especially young or first offenders are committed for training and reformation.
roundhouse a constable's prison; a lockup, watch-house, or station house.
slammer (coll.) prison.
stalag a German camp for prisoners of war.
stir (coll.) prison.
supermax denoting the highest level of jail security.
sweatbox a narrow box or cell in which a prisoner is placed for punishment.
tolbooth tollbooth in Scotland, a town hall, a prison.
tronk (S. Afr.) jail.
unprison to take or deliver from prison.