Dungeon

7 definitions found

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

  Dungeon \Dun"geon\, v. t.
     To shut up in a dungeon. --Bp. Hall.
     [1913 Webster]

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



  dungeon \dun"geon\ (d[u^]n"j[u^]n), n. [OE. donjoun highest
     tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform
     in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a
     house, a keep of a castle, LL. domnio, the same word as LL.
     dominus lord. See {Dame}, {Don}, and cf. {Dominion},
     {Domain}, {Demesne}, {Danger}, {Donjon}.]
     A close, dark prison, commonly, under ground, as if the lower
     apartments of the donjon or keep of a castle, these being
     used as prisons.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Down with him even into the deep dungeon. -- Tyndale.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Year after year he lay patiently in a dungeon. --
                                                    Macaulay.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  dungeon
       n 1: the main tower within the walls of a medieval castle or
            fortress [syn: {keep}, {donjon}]
       2: a dark cell (usually underground) where prisoners can be
          confined

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

  49 Moby Thesaurus words for "dungeon":
     POW camp, bastille, black hole, borstal, borstal institution,
     bridewell, brig, cell, concentration camp, condemned cell,
     death cell, death house, death row, detention camp, donjon,
     federal prison, forced-labor camp, gaol, guardhouse,
     house of correction, house of detention, industrial school,
     internment camp, jail, jailhouse, keep, labor camp, lockup,
     maximum-security prison, minimum-security prison, oubliette, pen,
     penal colony, penal institution, penal settlement, penitentiary,
     prison, prison camp, prisonhouse, reform school, reformatory,
     sponging house, state prison, stockade, stronghold, the hole,
     tollbooth, training school, vault
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Dungeon
       
          {Zork}
       
       

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Dungeon
     different from the ordinary prison in being more severe as a
     place of punishment. Like the Roman inner prison (Acts 16:24),
     it consisted of a deep cell or cistern (Jer. 38:6). To be shut
     up in, a punishment common in Egypt (Gen. 39:20; 40:3; 41:10;
     42:19). It is not mentioned, however, in the law of Moses as a
     mode of punishment. Under the later kings imprisonment was
     frequently used as a punishment (2 Chron. 16:10; Jer. 20:2;
     32:2; 33:1; 37:15), and it was customary after the Exile (Matt.
     11:2; Luke 3:20; Acts 5:18, 21; Matt. 18:30).
     

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

  DUNGEON. A cell under ground; a place in a prison built under ground, dark, 
  or but indifferently lighted. In the prisons of the United States, there are 
  few or no dungeons.