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.
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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
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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That included branding civil rights advocacy and speech defamatory, a breach of the peace, or hate speech, and hauling activists into courts and jails.—
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He is being held without bail at the El Dorado County jail, records show.—
Noun
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In 2005, the penitentiary was downgraded to medium security, and its name changed to the Federal Correctional Institution.—
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Arcángela and Serafina remain in the women’s penitentiary, continuing to operate illicit businesses and accumulating wealth, but without hope of freedom.—
Noun
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The story would feature voluminous evidence, including Salvadoran intelligence reports, government documents and even prison logs recording the visits of Luna and other Bukele aides to MS-13 leaders.—
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Both Menendez brothers remain in prison after having been denied parole in August of this year, and, in September, a judge denied their petition for a new trial.—
Cite this Entry
“Calaboose.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calaboose. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.
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