prisoner's base

American  

noun

1. any of various children's games in which each of two teams has a home base where members of the opposing team are kept prisoner after being tagged or caught and from which they can be freed only in specified ways.

---

prisoner's base British  

noun

1. a children's game involving two teams, members of which chase and capture each other to increase the number of children in their own base

---

Etymology

Origin of prisoner's base

1590–1600; compare late Middle English bace prisoner's base, perhaps from the phrase bringen bas to lay low, cause to surrender; later taken as an assimilated form of bars, plural of bar ¹, or as base ¹ (though the sense “goal or starting point” originated with this game)

Example Sentences

No more worrying about Ian Forbes or the king of England or prisoner’s base.

From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz

Every day we played a game called prisoner's base, which was all running and shouting and shoving and catching.

From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz

O mental holiday, now as impossible to me as to take a true schoolboy's interest in rounders and prisoner's base!

From My Life as an Author by Tupper, Martin Farquhar

Prisoner's Base—V In this form of prisoner's base the ground is marked out in a square or oblong, the dimensions varying with the number of players and their age or ability as runners.

From Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Bancroft, Jessie Hubbell

They probably played tag, ball, prisoner's base, asked riddles and blew soap-bubbles, as these simple amusements dated from medieval days.

From The Stronghold A Story of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia and Its People by Haynie, Miriam