hoosegows
Small-town slammers
Hoosegows is the plural of hoosegow, slang for a jail or prison.
The word comes from Spanish *juzgado* (a court or tribunal) and entered American English through the Southwest borderlands.
It carries a folksy, old-fashioned flavor: The sheriff threw the whole gang in the hoosegow.
Detention facility
- prisonConfinement for offenders
- penitentiaryFacility for convicted criminals
- lockupTemporary detention facility
- cellblockPrison housing unit
guardhouse · stockade · brig · reformatory · gaol · dungeon · workhouse · detention center
Sharp metallic ring
Confinement in jail
- detentionTemporary official holding
- imprisonmentLegal detention in jail
- custodyProtective care or control
- lockupTemporary detention facility
captivity · internment · holding · restraint · enclosure · containment · behind bars · doing time
jail
Detention facility
- prisonConfinement for offenders
- penitentiaryFacility for convicted criminals
- lockupTemporary detention facility
cellblock · guardhouse · stockade · brig · reformatory · gaol · dungeon · workhouse · detention center · holding cell
clink
Sharp metallic ring
can · joint · pen · stir · chokey · nick · tank · cage · hole · slam
incarceration
Confinement in jail
- detentionTemporary official holding
- imprisonmentLegal detention in jail
- custodyProtective care or control
lockup · captivity · internment · holding · restraint · enclosure · containment · behind bars · doing time · locked up
hoosegowsfreedom
Absence of constraint
liberty · free world · open spaces · release · liberation