Word of the Day

: July 7, 2015

hoosegow

noun HOOSS-gow

What It Means

: jail

hoosegow in Context

The perpetrator was sentenced to three months in the hoosegow.

"Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds has issued a blunt warning to pet owners: treat your dogs and cats humanely or you might wind up in the hoosegow." - Bill Hendrick, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 16, 2014

Did You Know?

In Spanish, juzgado means "panel of judges, courtroom." The word is based on the Spanish past participle of juzgar, meaning "to judge," which itself was influenced by Latin judicare-a combination of jus, "right, law," and dicere, "to decide, say." When English speakers of the American West borrowed juzgado in the early 1900s, they recorded it the way they heard it: hoosegow. They also associated the word specifically with the jail that was usually in the same building as a courthouse. Today, hoosegow has become slang for any place of confinement for lawbreakers.