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.

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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

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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

Murray and Adair raced on as merrily as if they had been playing a game of prisoner’s base.

From The Three Midshipmen by Prout, Victor

After the ceremony there was a banquet at Wynscote, and dancing, and a Maypole, and a soaped pig, and barley-break—an old athletic sport, to some extent resembling prisoner’s base.

From Robin Tremayne A Story of the Marian Persecution by Holt, Emily Sarah

The common people enjoy a wholesome romp in a game which seems to be a combination of "tag" and "prisoner's base."

From A Woman's Impression of the Philippines by Fee, Mary Helen