The Collaborative International Dictionary
Prison \Pris"on\ (?; 277), n. [F., fr. L. prehensio, prensio, a seizing, arresting, fr. prehendre, prendere, to lay hold of, to seize. See Prehensile, and cf. Prize, n., Misprision.]
-
A place where persons are confined, or restrained of personal liberty; hence, a place or state o? confinement, restraint, or safe custody.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.
--Ps. cxlii. 7.The tyrant [AE]olus, . . . With power imperial, curbs the struggling winds, And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds.
--Dryden. -
Specifically, a building for the safe custody or confinement of criminals and others committed by lawful authority.
Prison bars, or Prison base. See Base, n., 24.
Prison breach. (Law) See Note under 3d Escape, n., 4.
Prison house, a prison.
--Shak.Prison ship (Naut.), a ship fitted up for the confinement of prisoners.
Prison van, a carriage in which prisoners are conveyed to and from prison.
Usage examples of "prison van".
There was an armoured prison van waiting on the dock, with four motor-cycle police in uniform and a grey police Land-Rover.
As the ferry touched the wharf, the prison van reversed up and the rear doors swung open.
My trial wouldn't last more than three days, then I would be locked on a wrist chain in the back of a prison van and on my way to Angola.
He personally, the day before, had seen Margaret and Mildred loaded into the steel box on the back of a prison van, consigned to the Laughing Academy in Batavia.
The guards inside the prison van had their pistols drawn even though he was handcuffed.