barracoon
(bærəˈkuːn)
[a. Sp. barracon (?), augmentative f. barraca: see barrack n.1 and -oon.]
A rough barrack, set of sheds, or enclosure, in which Black slaves (originally), convicts, etc., are temporarily detained. Also fig.
| 1851 T. Parker Wks. VII. 290 The chain..visible on the necks of the judges as they entered the Bastile of Boston—the Barracoon of Boston! 1861 Du Chaillu's Equat. Afr. xi. 141, I made a visit to the barracoons, or slave-pens. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) VIII. lxviii. 358 The empire became no more than an ergastulum or barracoon on a vast scale. |