calaboose U.S.
(kæləˈbuːz)
[Negro French (of Louisiana) calabouse, ad. Sp. calabozo dungeon.]
The name, in New Orleans and adjacent parts of the U.S., for a common prison.
| 1837–40 Haliburton S. Slick, Hum. Nature (Bartlett) A large calaboose chock full of prisoners. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xv. 148 Send them to the calaboose, or some of the other places, to be flogged. 1883 Century Mag. Mar. 649/2 The terrors of the calaboza, with its chains and whips and branding irons, were condensed into the French tri⁓syllabic Calaboose. |