prison (prizn)

[ tary restraint; especially, a public building for the confinement or safe custody of criminals and others committed by proce of law; a jail. The jailor thrust them into the inner prison , and made their feet fast in the stocks. Acts xvi. 24. Each heart would quit its prison in the breast, And flow in free communion with the rest. 21. A prisoner. He yielded on my word; And, as my prisoner , I restore his sword. Dryden, Indian Emperor, iii. 4. 5. One who or that which is deprived of liberty or kept in restraint. Most souls, 'tis true, but peep out once an age, Dull, sullen prisoners in the body's cage. Pope , To the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady. If the person sent to relieve his confederate [in prisoners' base] be touched by an antagonist before he reaches him, he also becomes a prisoner , and stands in equal need of deliverance. Strutt , Sports and Pastimes, p. 145. Prisoners' bars. Same as prisoners ' base. - Prisoners' base, a children's game in which one player strives to touch the others as they run from one goal or base to another: when one player is thus touched, he too stands between the bases and tries to touch the rest, and so on till all are caught. There are many other ways of playing the game. Also called prisoners ' bars , prison - base , and prison -bars. Prisoner's-bolt, in her ., same as shackle . bolt.- State prisoner, one confined for a political offense. Syn. Prisoner , Captive . See captive.