bridewell
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of bridewell
First recorded in 1545–55; after a prison that formerly stood near the church of St. Bride in London
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After two weeks in the bridewell, Novelist Yehling changed his literary plans: "I think I'll join the Army and try to write a better book than Tolstoi's War and Peace."
From Time Magazine Archive
At prisint th' opinion that pre-vails in th' ranks iv th' gloryous ar-rmy iv rayform is that there ain't annything worth seein' in this lar-rge an' commodyous desert but th' pest-house an' the bridewell.
From Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War by Dunne, Finley Peter
A portly watchman usually sat on a stool outside the door day and night; but on this particular occasion, his services being required elsewhere, the bridewell had been left to guard itself.
From The Story of a Bad Boy by Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
To mill doll; to beat hemp in bridewell.
From 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Grose, Francis
Th' coort wud give him a letther of inthroduction to th' bridewell an' he cud stay there f'r two hundhred days.
From Mr. Dooley Says by Dunne, Finley Peter
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
