Borstal

name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A way up a hill in the South Downs. UK
  2. 2
    formerly a British reform school for youths considered too young to send to prison wordnet
  3. 3
    Any of the prisons set up in Britain for delinquent boys from 1895 to 1983. historical
  4. 4
    Any institution which provides education to young offenders. British, Ireland

    "You have juvenile courts. Do you have borstal institutions for juveniles?"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A suburb, formerly a village, in Rochester, Medway borough, Kent, England (OS grid ref TQ7366).

Synonyms

All synonyms
reformatorybastillebinblack holeborstal institutionborstal school

Example

More examples

"You have juvenile courts. Do you have borstal institutions for juveniles?"

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English *borstile, *borghstile, from Old English beorh (“a hill”) + stigel (“a stile”). The institutions are named after Borstal Prison in Borstal, Rochester, Kent, England.

Related phrases

borstal training

More for "borstal"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.