borstal

[ bawr-stuhl ]

noun

1. a school providing therapy and vocational training for delinquent boys in the United Kingdom and parts of the Commonwealth in the 20th century and continuing to operate in India and some other Commonwealth nations in the 21st century.

borstal

/ ˈbɔːstəl /

noun

1. (formerly in Britain) an informal name for an establishment in which offenders aged 15 to 21 could be detained for corrective training. Since the Criminal Justice Act 1982, they have been replaced by youth custody centres (now known as young offender institutions )
2. (formerly) a similar establishment in Australia and New Zealand

Word History and Origins

Origin of borstal¹

First recorded in 1905–10; named after Borstal, village in Kent, England

Word History and Origins

Origin of borstal¹

C20: named after Borstal , village in Kent where the first institution was founded

Example Sentences

As an American I'm only faintly aware of borstals.

From Salon

As a child, he spent time in borstal and by his teens he was a petty criminal who specialised in theft and forgery.

From BBC

Near Strawberry Field was the Gladstone merchant's mansion, named Woolton Vale, later to become Woolton Vale Remand Home, about which John's cousin Stanley declared that "the bad boys' borstal intrigued us."

From Salon

"Welcome to borstal," she added, spraying bits of crisp out of her mouth like snowflakes.

From Literature

He would tell reporters stationed outside that the group wanted to become a "real people's forum, a resistance movement against all the institutions, like the family, schools, detention centres, borstals".

From BBC