hoosegow
Americannoun
noun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of hoosegow
1860–65, < Mexican Spanish jusgado jail ( Spanish: court of justice, originally past participle of juzgar to judge) < Latin jūdicātum, equivalent to jūdic- (stem of jūdex ) judge + -ātum -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A Rochester, New York pawn shop owner is headed to the hoosegow after selling more than $6 million in goods stolen from area retailers on Amazon and eBay, the U.S.
From Washington Times
In prison, there are Keene’s encounters with a real-life mob boss and a manipulative guard to add tension, and just enough mayhem to remind you that this is no ordinary hoosegow.
From Los Angeles Times
See who got away with their ill-gotten gains and who got sent to the hoosegow in the new docuseries “Super Heists.”
From Los Angeles Times
He was tackled by a gendarme in the paint on the 76ers’ half of the court, unceremoniously picked up and hustled down a Capital One Arena tunnel and, hopefully, to the nearest hoosegow.
From Washington Post
Even a picture of me holding the very Trump piñata head that currently put me in the digital hoosegow.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
