imprison

English

Alternative forms

• emprison

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English imprisonen, emprisounen, emprisonen, from Old French emprisonner. Equivalent to im- +‎ prison.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɪzən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪzən
• Hyphenation: im‧pris‧on

Verb

imprison (third-person singular simple present imprisons, present participle imprisoning, simple past and past participle imprisoned)

1. (transitive) To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will.
   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 214, about Halton Holegate:

     One of the village's most notable sons was Thomas Grantham, a Baptist church leader born in 1634, who was persecuted and imprisoned in the struggle for nonconformist beliefs during the reign of Charles II.

   • 1985 December 21, Mara Math, “Fen (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 23, page 15:

     None of these people has ever had what they really wanted, and if they get a glimmer of it, they back off suspiciously, failures of imagination helping to imprison them further.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 87:

     [...] demand for the boots fell sharply after the Battle of Waterloo, and Brunel was imprisoned for debt in 1821.

Usage notes

• The term to imprison implies a sentencing has taken place when used to describe actions taken by a legal system, whereas to jail may imply a temporary holding before a trial, conviction, and sentencing.

Synonyms

• bang up
• gaol, jail
• lock up
• put away
• immure
• (British, colloquial) send to the Tower
• See also Thesaurus:imprison

Derived terms

• disimprison
• imprisonable
• imprisoner
• imprisonment
• reimprison
• unimprison

Translations

put in prison

• Albanian: burgos (sq)
• Arabic: حَبَسَ (ar) (ḥabasa), سَجَنَ (ar) (sajana)

  Egyptian Arabic: حبس (ḥabas)

  Moroccan Arabic: تحبس (taḥbas)

• Armenian: բանտարկել (hy) (bantarkel), կալանավորել (hy) (kalanavorel)
• Asturian: encarcelar
• Bulgarian: опандизвам (opandizvam)
• Catalan: empresonar (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏍᏚᎲᏍᎦ (asduhvsga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 關押 / 关押 (zh) (guānyā), 監禁 / 监禁 (zh) (jiānjìn), 下獄 / 下狱 (zh) (xiàyù), 囚禁 (zh) (qiújìn)

• Chukchi: ёк (jok)
• Czech: věznit (cs) impf, uvěznit (cs) pf
• Danish: fængsle (da)
• Esperanto: enprizonigi, malliberigi
• Finnish: vangita (fi)
• French: emprisonner (fr), mettre en prison

  Old French: anprisoner

• German: einsperren (de), einkerkern (de)
• Greek: φυλακίζω (el) (fylakízo)

  Ancient: φυλακίζω (phulakízō)

• Hungarian: bebörtönöz (hu)
• Icelandic: fangelsa (is)
• Indonesian: memenjarakan (id)
• Irish: cuir i bpríosún, cuir i ngéibheann
• Italian: imprigionare (it), incarcerare (it)
• Japanese: 刑務所に入れる (ja) (けいむしょに入れる, keimusho ni ireru), 投獄する (ja) (とうごくする, tōgoku suru), (figurative) 閉じ込める (とじこめる, tojikomeru)
• Korean: 투옥하다 (tuokhada)
• Macedonian: за́твора (zátvora)
• Manx: cur ayns pryssoon, pryssoonee
• Maori: mauhere, whakaherehere
• Norman: mettre en prison
• Norwegian: fengsle (no)
• Old English: hæftan, ġefæstnian
• Polish: więzić (pl) impf, uwięzić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: aprisionar (pt), prender (pt), encarcerar
• Romanian: întemnița (ro), încarcera (ro), închide (ro)
• Russian: лиша́ть свобо́ды impf (lišátʹ svobódy), заключа́ть в тюрьму́ impf (zaključátʹ v tjurʹmú), сажа́ть в тюрьму́ impf (sažátʹ v tjurʹmú)
• Slovak: väzniť impf, uväzniť pf
• Spanish: encarcelar (es), aprisionar (es)
• Swahili: -funga (sw)
• Swedish: fängsla (sv)
• Thai: ขัง (th) (kǎng), จำคุก (jam-kúk)
• Ukrainian: ув'я́знювати impf (uvʺjáznjuvaty), ув'язни́ти pf (uvʺjaznýty)
• Vietnamese: bỏ tù (vi)
• Volapük: fanäböpön (vo), fanäbükön (vo)
• Walloon: eprijhner (wa), resserer (wa), reclôre (wa), egayoler (wa)

Anagrams

• promisin'