prisoner
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English
Etymology
From Middle English prisoner, from Old French prisonier (compare Medieval Latin prisōnārius), equivalent to prison + -er.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɪzənə/, /ˈpɹɪznə/
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈpɹɪzənɚ/
Audio (GA) (file) - Hyphenation: pri‧son‧er
Noun
prisoner (plural prisoners)
- A person incarcerated in a prison, while on trial or serving a sentence.
- Synonym: jailbird
- Any person held against their will.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
- And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords / And either lanch his greedie thirſting throat, / Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerue / For Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
- A person who is or feels confined or trapped by a situation or a set of circumstances.
- I am no longer a prisoner to fear, for I am a child of God.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
person incarcerated in a prison
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figurative: any person held against his or her will
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Translations to be checked
Anagrams
Middle English
Etymology 1
Noun
prisoner (plural prisoners)
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Old French prisonier; equivalent to prisoun + -er.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
prisoner (plural prisoners or prisoneres)
Descendants
- English: prisoner