stalag

American

[stal-uhg, shtah-lahk] / ˈstæl əg, ˈʃtɑ lɑk /

noun

a World War II German military camp housing prisoners of war of enlisted ranks.

stalag British

/ ˈstælæɡ, ˈʃtalak /

noun

a German prisoner-of-war camp in World War II, esp for noncommissioned officers and other ranks

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of stalag

First recorded in 1940–45; from German, short for Sta(mm)lag(er), equivalent to Stamm “cadre, main body” + Lager “camp”

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.

The role is not a one-shot stop from the stalag for Klemperer.

From Time Magazine Archive

Armed with flashlights, nets, a lighted candle to warn them of "dead air," they plunged into Panama's sinister Chilibrillo caves, waded through subterranean streams, teetered precariously along narrow ledges, clung to stalag mites.

From Time Magazine Archive

She has bought a machine that will turn her chicken stalag into a factory for chicken pies.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some 50 miles northeast, near the town of Hammelburg, was a stalag filled with Allied prisoners of war.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023