Hoosegow
//ˈhuːsɡaʊ// noun, slang
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A jail. US, slang
"There's parts of Mexico they'd take you straight to the hoosegow for just whistlin that."
- 2 slang for a jail wordnet
Example
More examples"There's parts of Mexico they'd take you straight to the hoosegow for just whistlin that."
Etymology
From informal spoken Spanish juzgao, variant of standard Spanish juzgado (“court, courthouse”). Alteration of pronunciation and spelling by law of Hobson-Jobson.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.