bridewell

American  

[brahyd-wel, -wuhl] / ˈbraɪdˌwɛl, -wəl /

noun

British.

1. a prison.

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bridewell British  

/ -wəl, ˈbraɪdˌwɛl /

noun

1. a house of correction; jail, esp for minor offences

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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

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

Rev. Ernest Bell: Dear Sir:—Could you tell me if Neil Jaeger is in the bridewell yet or has he been released?

From Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls or, War on the White Slave Trade by Bell, Ernest A. (Ernest Albert)

Rent by faction as she is, there is nothing for her but a bridewell or a guard-house--the grinding tyranny of England or the military despotism of France!'

From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Wingfield, Lewis

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

He returned to the county bridewell for a few days, and then was shifted to the castellated building.

From It Is Never Too Late to Mend by Reade, Charles