as in jail
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
fittingly, the calaboose in that one-horse town consisted of a single cell
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Recent Examples of calaboose
Heritage Village includes an 1881 two-cell calaboose from Mokena, the 1856 Wells Corner one-room schoolhouse from Homer Glen, the 1863 Greenho farmhouse from Crest Hill, the 1881 Wabash railroad depot from Symerton and a Lockport smokehouse.
—
Jessi Virtusio, Chicago Tribune, 11 May 2022
Lachenais was arrested and secured in the local calaboose, but a vigilance committee descended upon the jail and tore Lachenais out of his cell.
—Yxta Maya Murray, Longreads, 19 Aug. 2020
All Chenneville had to do was ride up on his horse, remove the smoking gun or bloody knife from the killer's hand, and drag him to the calaboose—the local jail, which was just down the hall from the police department.
—Skip Hollandsworth, Esquire, 5 Apr. 2016
Jessi Virtusio, Chicago Tribune, 11 May 2022
Lachenais was arrested and secured in the local calaboose, but a vigilance committee descended upon the jail and tore Lachenais out of his cell.
—Yxta Maya Murray, Longreads, 19 Aug. 2020
All Chenneville had to do was ride up on his horse, remove the smoking gun or bloody knife from the killer's hand, and drag him to the calaboose—the local jail, which was just down the hall from the police department.
—Skip Hollandsworth, Esquire, 5 Apr. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calaboose
Noun
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She is being held on $500,000 bond, according to jail records reviewed by PEOPLE on May 30.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
31 May 2026
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On Friday, a judge sentenced him to 60 days in jail, followed by 22 months of probation.—
Nick Lentz,
CBS News,
31 May 2026
Noun
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Mike Braun opened the Speedway Slammer at an Indiana prison, Jim Pillen opened the Cornhusker Clink at a Nebraska work camp, and Jeff Landry opened the Louisiana Lockup in a disused wing of Angola penitentiary.—
Eric Schlosser,
The Atlantic,
4 June 2026
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This includes providing the Colombian military more leeway in the field, signing a new security agreement with Washington and building 10 mega-prisons that mimic Bukele’s network of penitentiaries in El Salvador.—
Daniel DePetris,
Chicago Tribune,
2 June 2026
Noun
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Ali wakes up in the morning to find Rue in the living room, learning from the news that Fez broke out of prison and vowing to get him.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
1 June 2026
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Erasures from his the poet’s journals narrate the speaker’s visit to his father in prison through the pinhole of what’s left of memory.—
Craig Morgan Teicher,
Literary Hub,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Calaboose.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calaboose. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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