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penitentiary

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Acronyms, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
penitentiary: see prison prison, place of confinement for the punishment and rehabilitation of criminals. By the end of the 18th cent. imprisonment was the chief mode of punishment for all but capital crimes.
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penitentiary
1. (in the US and Canada) a state or federal prison: in Canada, esp a federal prison for offenders convicted of serious crimes
2. RC Church
a. a cleric appointed to supervise the administration of the sacrament of penance in a particular area
b. a priest who has special faculties to absolve particularly grave sins
c. a cardinal who presides over a tribunal that decides all matters affecting the sacrament of penance
d. this tribunal itself
3. US and Canadian (of an offence) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary


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A JUDGE having sentenced a Malefactor to the penitentiary was proceeding to point out to him the disadvantages of crime and the profit of reformation.
Fantastic-Fables by Bierce, Ambrose View in context
For if it hadn't been for that they'd a jailed us till them Englishmen's baggage come -- and then -- the penitentiary, you bet
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain, Mark View in context
If I were to say to Miss Maria, `My father has hanged himself, my mother has taken poison, my brother is in the penitentiary, and I am in the last stages of consumption,' Miss Maria would laugh.
Anne of The Island by Montgomery, Lucy Maud View in context
 
 
 
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