Crossword clues for penitentiary
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Penitentiary \Pen`i*ten"tia*ry\, a. [Cf. F. p['e]nitentiaire.]
Relating to penance, or to the rules and measures of penance. ``A penitentiary tax.''
--Abp. Bramhall.Expressive of penitence; as, a penitentiary letter.
Used for punishment, discipline, and reformation. ``Penitentiary houses.''
--Blackstone.
Penitentiary \Pen`i*ten"tia*ry\, n.; pl. Penitentiaries. [Cf. F. p['e]nitencier. See Penitent.]
One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance. [Obs.]
--Bacon.One who does penance. [Obs.]
--Hammond.A small building in a monastery where penitents confessed.
--Shpiley.That part of a church to which penitents were admitted.
--Shipley.-
(R. C. Ch.)
An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc. Its chief is a cardinal, called the Grand Penitentiary, appointed by the pope.
An officer in some dioceses since A. D. 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.
A house of correction, in which offenders are confined for punishment, discipline, and reformation, and in which they are generally compelled to labor.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., "place of punishment for offenses against the church," from Medieval Latin penitentiaria, from fem. of penitentiarius (adj.) "of penance," from Latin paenitentia "penitence" (see penitence). Meaning "house of correction" (originally an asylum for prostitutes) is from 1806, short for penitentiary house (1776). Slang shortening pen is attested from 1884.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Of or relating to penance; penitential. 2 Of or relating to the punishment of criminals. n. 1 (context US English) A state or federal prison for convicted felons. 2 A priest in the Roman Catholic Church who administers the sacrament of penance. 3 (context obsolete English) One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance. 4 (context obsolete English) One who does penance. 5 (context obsolete English) A small building in a monastery, or a part of a church, where penitents confessed. 6 (context obsolete English) An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc.; run by a cardinal called the Grand Penitentiary who is appointed by the pope. 7 (context obsolete English) An officer in some dioceses since 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.
WordNet
adj. used for punishment or reform of criminals or wrongdoers; "penitentiary institutions"
n. a correctional institution for those convicted of major crimes [syn: pen]
Wikipedia
Penitentiary may refer to:
- Prison or penitentiary, a correctional facility
- Apostolic Penitentiary, a tribunal of mercy, responsible for issues relating to the forgiveness of sins in the Roman Catholic Church
- Penitentiary (1938 film)
- Penitentiary (1979 film)
- Penitentiary Point, a cliff in Utah
Penitentiary is a 1979 American blaxploitation drama film starring Leon Isaac Kennedy as Martel "Too Sweet" Gordone that deals with the wrongful imprisonment of a black youth. The film was released on November 21, 1979.
Penitentiary is a 1938 American crime film directed by John Brahm starring Walter Connolly, John Howard, Jean Parker and Robert Barrat. It was the second Columbia Pictures film adaptation of the 1929 stage play The Criminal Code by Martin Flavin, after Howard Hawk's The Criminal Code (1931) and followed by Henry Levin's Convicted (1950).
Usage examples of "penitentiary".
The penitentiary had a reputation as being a place of which to steer clear--the kind of a reputation a penitentiary should have--in spite of the fact that it was modern, and had a warden who was perfectly fair to every inmate.
He could not, no matter how much he thought about it, understand how he had become another man serving a life sentence in a penitentiary, and the desperation of that situation might have broken his will.
Tom Idle had explained to his sister exactly what had happened to him, beginning when he was awakened by the exclamation of a bum known as Seedy Smith, in a Salt Lake City park, and ending where he was now, sitting in the Utah penitentiary with the name of Hondo Weatherbee, outlaw.
Utah State Penitentiary and look into the mystery of how a man named Tom Idle could turn into an outlaw named Hondo Weatherbee.
Bolt lightning suddenly came down out of the sky, touched one horn tower with a sizzle and a bang, and in the penitentiary cells a hundred convicts lay rigid while fear chills walked their spines.
There were clever prisoners in this penitentiary, and the devices they tried were strange.
Hondo Weatherbee had been taken out of the penitentiary and Tom Idle substituted in his place, Tom Idle being selected simply because he looked something like Hondo Weatherbee.
Big Eva was also slated for release from the penitentiary, since he had once been a bandit associate of Hondo Weatherbee, Doc had disguised himself to resemble Big Eva and offered himself as a sacrifice to see if he was guessing right.
All the doors in this part of the penitentiary were sheathed with steel and equipped to be locked from either side.
Now that you are out of the penitentiary, he has more need than ever for a club to hold over you.
How did they get you and me into the penitentiary, and get Big Eva and Hondo Weatherbee out?
The scheme to leave a stooge in your place in the penitentiary has flopped.
He naturally associated the presence of Tom Idle with the nearness of Doc Savage, because the two had escaped the penitentiary together, and he was suddenly frantic with anxiety.
Moonlight was the only privilege that these prisoners could share with free men in the world beyond the penitentiary walls.
When the doors of the penitentiary clanged behind him he would depart, carrying with him the secret of Ferris Legrand!