imprisonment
duration
1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French. See dure 2, -ance
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And I said: My dear, I have been in durance vile.
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2022
But durance has been considerably less vile for the eleven G.I.s held by Cambodia since their landing craft strayed out of Vietnamese waters July 17.
From Time Magazine Archive
Take them out of durance vile and put them both to work at the airport.
From Time Magazine Archive
They were held in durance only by the tabus and superstitions of their polytheistic religion, which they renounced in 1819 after the death of their great King Kamehameha I. Traders and whalers followed Cook.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was the probation, the durance; they all three accepted it; I dont believe there was ever any promise between Henry and Bon demanded or offered.
From "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner
Both the Guisane and Durance are popular rivers for white water rafting, fed by glaciers and snowmelt in the spring.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2025
Last year, a British man died after getting into difficulty on the river Durance, which also passes through Briancon.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2025
Ms. Siegel was the first in a long line of Lois Lanes, who have included Phyllis Coates, Noel Neill, Teri Hatcher, and Erica Durance on television and Margot Kidder in the movies.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2011
Another clue in favor of the Durance is that Hannibal was reported to have passed three Gallic tribes.
From Time Magazine Archive
Alongside, in a deep rocky gully, runs the torrent of the Biasse, leaping from rock to rock on its way to the valley of the Durance, far below.
From The Huguenots in France by Smiles, Samuel
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.
