Custody

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Custody \Cus"to*dy\ (k?s"t?-d?), n. [L. custodia, fr. custos
     guard; prob. akin to Gr. ?????? to hide, and E. hide. Seee
     {Hide} to cover.]
     1. A keeping or guarding; care, watch, inspection, for
        keeping, preservation, or security.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              A fleet of thirty ships for the custody of the
              narrow seas.                          --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Judicial or penal safe-keeping.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Jailer, take him to thy custody.      --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. State of being guarded and watched to prevent escape;
        restraint of liberty; confinement; imprisonment.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              What pease will be given
              To us enslaved, but custody severe,
              And stripes and arbitrary punishment? --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  custody
       n 1: a state of being confined (usually for a short time); "his
            detention was politically motivated"; "the prisoner is
            on hold"; "he is in the custody of police" [syn: {detention},
             {hold}]
       2: holding by the police; "the suspect is in custody"
       3: (with `in') guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the
          right to house and care for and discipline a child; "my
          fate is in your hands"; "too much power in the president's
          hands"; "your guests are now in my custody"; "the mother
          was awarded custody of the children" [syn: {hands}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  94 Moby Thesaurus words for "custody":
     administration, auspices, captainship, care, chairmanship, charge,
     cold storage, confinement, conservation, convenership, cure,
     custodianship, dead storage, detention, dictatorship, directorate,
     directorship, dry storage, eagle eye, foremanship, generalship,
     governance, government, governorship, guard, guardedness,
     guardianship, guarding, guidance, hands, headship, hold,
     imprisonment, incarceration, intendancy, invigilation,
     jurisdiction, keep, keeping, leadership, lookout, management,
     managership, mastership, ministry, monitoring, observance,
     overseership, oversight, pastorage, pastorate, pastorship,
     patronage, peeled eye, preservation, presidency,
     preventive custody, proctoring, proctorship, protection,
     protective custody, protectorship, prudence, qui vive, safe hands,
     safekeeping, sharp eye, shelf-room, sovereignty, stewardship,
     storage, storage space, stowage, superintendence, superintendency,
     supervision, supervisorship, surveillance, trust, tutelage, vigil,
     vigilance, ward, wardenship, wardship, warehousing, wariness,
     watch, watch and ward, watchful eye, watchfulness, watching,
     weather eye, wing
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CUSTODY. The detainer of a person by virtue of a lawful authority. To be in 
  custody, is to be lawfully detained under arrest. Vide 14 Vin. Ab. 359; 3 
  Chit. Pr. 355. In another sense, custody signifies having the care and 
  possession of a thing; as, the chancellor is entitled to the custody as the 
  keeper of the seal.