incarceration
(ɪnkɑːsəˈreɪʃən)
[a. F. incarcération (13–14th c. in Littré), ad. med.L. incarcerātiōn-em imprisonment, n. of action from L. incarcerāre: see prec.]
The action of incarcerating or fact of being incarcerated; imprisonment.
| 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 179 Be lang seiknes and malancoly, quhilk he tuke for his incarceration. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Jas. I Wks. (1711) 4 He thought by gentle incarcerations to have restrained their malice. 1803 Syd. Smith Wks. (1869) 31 Since the benevolent Howard attacked our prisons, incarceration has become not only healthy but elegant. 1855 Miss Cobbe Intuit. Mor. 117 The deprivation of Personal Freedom constitutes..an incarceration of the Soul. |
b. Path. Obstinate constriction or strangulation of a hernia (see incarcerated); retention of the placenta in parturition.
| 1826 Cooper Surg. 461 The..simple obstruction of a hernia, is essentially different from incarceration, or strangulation. |