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

But mark me well, let there be no more tullying and brawling, or I shall send you all to bridewell.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

Adjoining the Town-hall, or separated only by an avenue, is a heavy, monastic-looking building, used as a bridewell, and called the City Penitentiary.

From An Englishman's Travels in America His Observations of Life and Manners in the Free and Slave States by Benwell, John

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

So they took him and bore him to the bridewell, where they laid him in irons and left him seated in solitude, unremembered by any.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir