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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Seven inmates are still at large on May 19 after escaping from a New Orleans jail through a hole behind a toilet.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA Today,
20 May 2025
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Boyd and Price were also in jail on serious charges.—
Sophie Clark,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 May 2025
Noun
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The gallows, where 15 penitentiary inmates were executed by hanging, were no longer there.—
Tammy Ljungblad,
Kansas City Star,
17 May 2025
-
Instead, Trump took a number of potshots at his sometime opponent during a Tuesday press conference, less than 48 hours after ordering the Bureau of Prisons to reopen Alcatraz as a federal penitentiary.—
Nicole Nixon,
Sacbee.com,
7 May 2025
Noun
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In June 2024, three people were sentenced to eight months in prison after being found guilty of racially abusing Vinicius Jr in that May 2023 match at Valencia.—
Colin Millar,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
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In that case, Douglas was sentenced to five years of probation and had his 2-year prison sentence stayed, court documents say.—
Julia Marnin,
Miami Herald,
19 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Calaboose.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calaboose. Accessed 1 Jun. 2025.
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