calaboose
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of calaboose
An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; from Louisiana French calabouse, from Spanish calabozo “dungeon,” of obscure origin
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.
English-speaking settlers in the Spanish Southwest turned estampida into stampede, vamos into vamoose, and calabozo into calaboose.
From Time Magazine Archive
Instead he was whisked off to the village calaboose at Guaranda.
From Time Magazine Archive
From the Indians came possum, persimmon, punk, skunk, squash, succotash; from the Dutch, cruller, sawbuck, scow, slaw, snoop, stoop, waffle; from the Spanish, cafeteria, calaboose, lariat, mustang; from the German, cranberry.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had long since become disgusted with gold-hunting; and the home-sickness, which came over him in the calaboose, continued after he got out.
From The Funny Philosophers Wags and Sweethearts by Yellott, George
When I come to pay the bill, they was a reg'lar howl, an' we come mighty near bein' marched off to the calaboose, same's you was.
From Against Odds A Detective Story by Lynch, Lawrence L.
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.
