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Penitentiary   /pˌɛnɪtˈɛntʃəri/   Listen
noun
Penitentiary  n.  (pl. penitentiaries)  
1.
One who prescribes the rules and measures of penance. (Obs.)
2.
One who does penance. (Obs.)
3.
A small building in a monastery where penitents confessed.
4.
That part of a church to which penitents were admitted.
5.
(R. C. Ch.)
(a)
An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc. Its chief is a cardinal, called the Grand Penitentiary, appointed by the pope.
(b)
An officer in some dioceses since A. D. 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.
6.
A house of correction, in which offenders are confined for punishment, discipline, and reformation, and in which they are generally compelled to labor; a prison; a jail. Colloquially often shortened to pen.


adjective
Penitentiary  adj.  
1.
Relating to penance, or to the rules and measures of penance. "A penitentiary tax."
2.
Expressive of penitence; as, a penitentiary letter.
3.
Used for punishment, discipline, and reformation. "Penitentiary houses."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Penitentiary" Quotes from Famous Books



... confusion, bulls, bears, Peter Funks, Jeremy Diddlers, and, best of all, the Funny Fellow. I will take board in some rural, as well as accessible place; the mosquitoes and ague of Flushing shall refresh my frame; the cottages of Astoria, with their pleasant view of the Penitentiary, shall revive my wounded spirit; I will exile myself from my native land to the shores of Jersey; I will sit beneath the shadow of the Quarantine on Staten Island. No—I won't—I will go to Yonkers—Yonkers that looks as though ...
— Humorous Masterpieces from American Literature • Various
... Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews suffered death. Von Shoultz, and a number of Americans who had invaded the country in 1838, were also executed, and some persons in both provinces were transported to New Holland or sent to the penitentiary, but in the majority of cases the Crown showed clemency. The outbreak was an unfortunate episode in the history of Canada, but it caused the "family compact" to break up, and brought about a better system ...
— Canada • J. G. Bourinot
... of good conduct in the Ancona Penitentiary, the life sentence of Giacomo Casale has been remitted by King Victor Emmanuel. Casale's astonishment at the altered world in which he found himself on coming out of prison was unbounded. He ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, January 7, 1914 • Various
... this voice from St.-Quentin in France substantially echoes another voice from another St. Quentin in California—the seat of the State Penitentiary in that young and active and opulent American commonwealth. In California the plan of giving instruction in morality, independently of religion, has been tried much longer than in France, and certainly in circumstances much more favourable to its success. The result, as set forth in an Official ...
— France and the Republic - A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces - During the 'Centennial' Year 1889 • William Henry Hurlbert
... sold to the highest bidder. The criminal was dragged out into open day and flogged or branded. From ten to nineteen crimes were punishable with death. No such thing as a lunatic asylum, or a deaf and dumb asylum, or a penitentiary existed. The prisons were dreadful places. Men came out of them ...
— A School History of the United States • John Bach McMaster


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