as in jail
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
fittingly, the calaboose in that one-horse town consisted of a single cell
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Recent Examples of calaboose
Heritage Village includes an 1881 two-cell calaboose from Mokena, the 1856 Wells Corner one-room schoolhouse from Homer Glen, the 1863 Greenho farmhouse from Crest Hill, the 1881 Wabash railroad depot from Symerton and a Lockport smokehouse.
—
Jessi Virtusio, Chicago Tribune, 11 May 2022
Lachenais was arrested and secured in the local calaboose, but a vigilance committee descended upon the jail and tore Lachenais out of his cell.
—Yxta Maya Murray, Longreads, 19 Aug. 2020
Brooks was escorted to the calaboose and thrown into the main holding tank with the other prisoners.
—Skip Hollandsworth, Esquire, 5 Apr. 2016
All Chenneville had to do was ride up on his horse, remove the smoking gun or bloody knife from the killer's hand, and drag him to the calaboose—the local jail, which was just down the hall from the police department.
—Skip Hollandsworth, Esquire, 5 Apr. 2016
Jessi Virtusio, Chicago Tribune, 11 May 2022
Lachenais was arrested and secured in the local calaboose, but a vigilance committee descended upon the jail and tore Lachenais out of his cell.
—Yxta Maya Murray, Longreads, 19 Aug. 2020
Brooks was escorted to the calaboose and thrown into the main holding tank with the other prisoners.
—Skip Hollandsworth, Esquire, 5 Apr. 2016
All Chenneville had to do was ride up on his horse, remove the smoking gun or bloody knife from the killer's hand, and drag him to the calaboose—the local jail, which was just down the hall from the police department.
—Skip Hollandsworth, Esquire, 5 Apr. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calaboose
Noun
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As Ortega is held at a Rikers Island jail pending his next court appearance, police are still working to track down his machete-wielding partner in crime and are asking for the public’s help in identifying him.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
20 Mar. 2025
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Willie Frank Peterson, 52, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in 2023, and was sentenced to six years and three months in jail.—
Andrea Margolis,
Fox News,
20 Mar. 2025
Noun
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In Oklahoma, 56-year-old Wendell Grissom was declared dead by lethal injection at the penitentiary in McAlester at 10:13 a.m.—
arkansasonline.com,
arkansasonline.com,
21 Mar. 2025
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Salvador's Presidency Press Office via AFP - Getty Images Origins in prison Tren de Aragua began in the 2000s in a notorious penitentiary in north-central Venezuela, where gang leaders at one point had their own zoo, nightclub and bank inside the prison.—
David Noriega,
NBC News,
18 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Three days later, his immigration attorney was able to reach an ICE official who confirmed that his client was in a prison in another country.—
Brian Bennett,
TIME,
21 Mar. 2025
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With inmate suicide rates at an all-time high, U.S. District Senior Judge Kimberly Mueller said her aim is to force changes in California’s prison mental health system, which a federal judge in 1995 deemed to be so poor as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment.—
Paige St. John,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Calaboose.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calaboose. Accessed 1 Apr. 2025.
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