durance

[ doo r-uh ns, dyoo r- ]

/ ˈdʊər əns, ˈdyʊər- /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR durance ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

incarceration or imprisonment (often used in the phrase durance vile).

Archaic. endurance.

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Nearby words

Origin of durance

1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French. See dure², -ance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for durance

Together they seemed to be making common cause against the detective, who was rushing Miss Million up to town and to durance vile!
Miss Million's Maid|Bertha Ruck
Knowing what a stake it was I rode for, you may imagine how this day in durance ate into me like a canker.
The Master of Appleby|Francis Lynde
Is it possible that innocent people are held in durance here?
The Awakening|Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy
Offenders, generally, could “run their letters” and protest, if kept in durance untried for sixty days.
A Short History of Scotland|Andrew Lang

Its durance had been long and hard, and now the time was at hand when it must die, worn out with age and suffering.
Kophetua the Thirteenth|Julian Corbett

British Dictionary definitions for durance (1 of 2)

durance

/ (ˈdjʊərəns) /

noun archaic, or literary

imprisonment

duration

Word Origin for durance

C15: from Old French, from durer to last, from Latin dūrāre

British Dictionary definitions for durance (2 of 2)

Durance

/ (French dyrɑ̃s) /

noun

a river in S France, rising in the Alps and flowing generally southwest into the Rhône. Length: 304 km (189 miles)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for durance

durance

late 15c., from Old French durance "duration," from durer "to endure," from Latin durare (see endure).