imprison

Definition

To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will.

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

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

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