Category:Dungeon

Dun"geon, n. Etym: [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a castle, LL. domnio, the same word as LL. dominus lord. See Dame, Don, and cf. Dominion, Domain, Demesne, Danger, Donjon.]

Defn: A close, dark prison, common donjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons. Down with him even into the deep dungeon. Tyndale. Year after year he lay patiently in a dungeon. Macaulay.

dungeon Dun"geon, v. t.

Defn: To shut up in a dungeon. Bp. Hall.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Dungeon - Different from the ordinary prison in being more severe as a place of punishment. Like the Roman inner prison (Acts 16:24), it consisted of a deep cell or cistern (Jeremiah 38:6). To be shut up in, a punishment common in Egypt (Genesis 39:20; Genesis 40:3; Genesis 41:10; Genesis 42:19). It is not mentioned, however, in the law of Moses as a mode of punishment. Under the later kings imprisonment was frequently used as a punishment (2 Chronicles 16:10; Jeremiah 20:2; Jeremiah 32:2; Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 37:15), and it was customary after the Exile (Matthew 11:2; Luke 3:20; Acts 5:18, Acts 5:21; Matthew 18:30).