bridewell

American  

[brahyd-wel, -wuhl] / ˈbraɪdˌwɛl, -wəl /

noun

British.

1. a prison.

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bridewell British  

/ -wəl, ˈbraɪdˌwɛl /

noun

1. a house of correction; jail, esp for minor offences

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Etymology

Origin of bridewell

First recorded in 1545–55; after a prison that formerly stood near the church of St. Bride in London

Example Sentences

After two weeks in the bridewell, Novelist Yehling changed his literary plans: "I think I'll join the Army and try to write a better book than Tolstoi's War and Peace."

From Time Magazine Archive

As a matter of course the place was strongly built, heavily barred and massively bolted, being in these respects merely a commonplace replica of the average bridewell.

From The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore by Hutchinson, J. R. (John Robert)

I think you were brought up in the university of bridewell; you have your rhetoric so ready at your tongue's end, as if you were never well warned when your were young.

From Locrine/Mucedorus by Shakespeare (spurious and doubtful works)

When he left us he went to the county bridewell, where he remained until the assizes, an interval of about a month.

From It Is Never Too Late to Mend by Reade, Charles

Habeas corpuses have been heard; men have been sent to the penitentiary and others to the bridewell and some to the jail.

From The Crime of the Century or, The Assassination of Dr. Patrick Henry Cronin by Hunt, Henry M.