Bridewell
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small prison, or a police station that has cells. Ireland, capitalized, dated, sometimes
"Others in the Bridewell heard him screaming. Even prison doctors could see. His injuries were not self-inflicted. Those who tipped the scales did not agree."
Example
More examples"Others in the Bridewell heard him screaming. Even prison doctors could see. His injuries were not self-inflicted. Those who tipped the scales did not agree."
Etymology
From Bridewell (named after a well dedicated to St Bride), an area of London that once had a "house of correction".
Related phrases
More for "bridewell"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.