The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Prison \Pris"on\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Prisoned; p. pr. & vb.
   n. Prisoning.]
   1. To imprison; to shut up in, or as in, a prison; to
      confine; to restrain from liberty.
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            The prisoned eagle dies for rage.     --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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            His true respect will prison false desire. --Shak.
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   2. To bind (together); to enchain. [Obs.]
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            Sir William Crispyn with the duke was led
            Together prisoned.                    --Robert of
                                                  Brunne.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Prison \Pris"on\ (?; 277), n. [F., fr. L. prehensio, prensio, a
   seizing, arresting, fr. prehendre, prendere, to lay hold of,
   to seize. See Prehensile, and cf. Prize, n.,
   Misprision.]
   1. A place where persons are confined, or restrained of
      personal liberty; hence, a place or state o? confinement,
      restraint, or safe custody.
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            Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy
            name.                                 --Ps. cxlii.
                                                  7.
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            The tyrant Aeolus, . . .
            With power imperial, curbs the struggling winds,
            And sounding tempests in dark prisons binds.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   2. Specifically, a building for the safe custody or
      confinement of criminals and others committed by lawful
      authority.
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   Prison bars, or Prison base. See Base, n., 24.

   Prison breach. (Law) See Note under 3d Escape, n., 4.

   Prison house, a prison. --Shak.

   Prison ship (Naut.), a ship fitted up for the confinement
      of prisoners.

   Prison van, a carriage in which prisoners are conveyed to
      and from prison.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

prison
    n 1: a correctional institution where persons are confined while
         on trial or for punishment [syn: prison, prison house]
    2: a prisonlike situation; a place of seeming confinement [syn:
       prison, prison house]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

67 Moby Thesaurus words for "prison":
   POW camp, bastille, big house, black hole, borstal,
   borstal institution, bridewell, brig, calaboose, can, cell, chokey,
   clink, concentration camp, condemned cell, confine, confinement,
   constrain, cooler, death cell, death house, death row, detention,
   detention camp, dungeon, federal prison, forced-labor camp, gaol,
   glasshouse, guardhouse, hoosegow, house of correction,
   house of detention, immure, incarcerate, industrial school, intern,
   internment camp, jail, jailhouse, jug, keep, labor camp, lockup,
   maximum-security prison, minimum-security prison, oubliette, pen,
   penal colony, penal institution, penal settlement, penitentiary,
   pokey, poky, prison camp, prisonhouse, quod, reform school,
   reformatory, slammer, sponging house, state prison, stir, stockade,
   the hole, tollbooth, training school



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Prison
   The first occasion on which we read of a prison is in the
   history of Joseph in Egypt. Then Potiphar, "Joseph's master,
   took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's
   prisoners were bound" (Gen. 39:20-23). The Heb. word here used
   (sohar) means properly a round tower or fortress. It seems to
   have been a part of Potiphar's house, a place in which state
   prisoners were kept.

     The Mosaic law made no provision for imprisonment as a
   punishment. In the wilderness two persons were "put in ward"
   (Lev. 24:12; Num. 15:34), but it was only till the mind of God
   concerning them should be ascertained. Prisons and prisoners are
   mentioned in the book of Psalms (69:33; 79:11; 142:7). Samson
   was confined in a Philistine prison (Judg. 16:21, 25). In the
   subsequent history of Israel frequent references are made to
   prisons (1 Kings 22:27; 2 Kings 17:4; 25:27, 29; 2 Chr. 16:10;
   Isa. 42:7; Jer. 32:2). Prisons seem to have been common in New
   Testament times (Matt. 11:2; 25:36, 43). The apostles were put
   into the "common prison" at the instance of the Jewish council
   (Acts 5:18, 23; 8:3); and at Philippi Paul and Silas were thrust
   into the "inner prison" (16:24; comp. 4:3; 12:4, 5).


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

PRISON. A legal prison is the building designated by law, or used by the
sheriff, for the confinement, or detention of those whose persons are
judicially ordered to be kept in custody. But in cases of necessity, the
sheriff may make his own house, or any other place, a prison. 6 John. R. 22.
2. An illegal prison is one not authorized by law, but established by
private authority; when the confinement is illegal, every place where the
party is arrested is a prison; as, the street, if he be detained in passing
along. 4 Com. Dig. 619; 2 Hawk. P. C. c. 18, s. 4; 1 Buss. Cr. 378; 2 Inst.
589.



The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

PRISON, n.  A place of punishments and rewards.  The poet assures us
that --

    "Stone walls do not a prison make,"

but a combination of the stone wall, the political parasite and the
moral instructor is no garden of sweets.