confine

English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle French confiner, from confins, from Medieval Latin confines, from Latin confinium, from confīnis.

Pronunciation edit

(verb) enPR: kənfīnʹ, IPA^(key): /kənˈfaɪn/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(noun)
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnfaɪn/
- Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (US) enPR: känʹfīn, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnfaɪn/
Rhymes: -aɪn

Verb edit

confine (third-person singular simple present confines, present participle confining, simple past and past participle confined)

(obsolete) To have a common boundary with; to border on. [16th–19th c.]
- 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
  Where your gloomy bounds / Confine with heaven
- 1717, John Dryden, “Book XII”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
  Betwixt heaven and earth and skies there stands a place / Confining on all three.
- 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford, published 2008, page 467:
  ‘Why, Sir, to be sure, such parts of Sclavonia as confine with Germany, will borrow German words; and such parts as confine with Tartary will borrow Tartar words.’
(transitive) To restrict (someone or something) to a particular scope or area; to keep in or within certain bounds. [from 17th c.]
- c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
  Now let not nature's hand / Keep the wild flood confined! let order die!
- 1680, John Dryden, Ovid’s Epistles translated by several hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Preface,^[1]
  He is to confine himself to the compass of numbers and the slavery of rhyme.

Translations edit

to restrict; to keep within bounds

Albanian: ngujoj (sq)
Bulgarian: огранича́вам (bg) (ograničávam)
Catalan: confinar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 局限 (júxiàn), 囿於／囿于 (yòuyú) (to be confined to)
Czech: poutat, omezovat (cs), tísnit (cs), omezit (cs) pf
Dutch: begrenzen (nl), inperken (nl), beperken (nl)
Finnish: (to restrict) rajoittaa (fi), (to shut/keep in a limited space/area) rajata (fi)
French: confiner (fr)
German: beschränken (de)
Greek: περιορίζω (el) (periorízo)
Ancient: κατακλείω (katakleíō)
Hungarian: korlátoz (hu)
Ingrian: rajata
Japanese: 限る (ja) (かぎる, kagiru)
Latin: compescō, inclūdō
Maori: whakatiki, whakatina, hamaruru
Norwegian: begrense (no)
Occitan: confinar (oc)
Persian: محصور کردن (mahsur kardan), حبس کردن (fa) (habs kardan)
Portuguese: confinar (pt)
Russian: ограни́чивать (ru) impf (ograníčivatʹ), ограни́чить (ru) pf (ograníčitʹ)
Spanish: confinar (es), encorsetar (es)
Swedish: begränsa (sv), inskränka (sv)
Telugu: పరిమితము (te) (parimitamu), పరిమితము చేయు (parimitamu cēyu), నిర్బంధించు (te) (nirbandhiñcu)
Vietnamese: nhốt (vi)

detain — see detain

lock up — see lock up

arrest — see arrest

imprison — see imprison

incarcerate — see incarcerate

Noun edit

confine (plural confines)

(chiefly in the plural) A boundary or limit.
(poetic) Confinement, imprisonment.
- a. 1917, anonymous, “Lord Bateman” (folk song) as published in Bertrand Harris Bronson (1959) The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, vol. 1, p. 419:
  She says for you to bring her a slice of cake,
  A bottle of the best wine,
  And not to forget the fair young lady
  That did release you from close confine.