calaboose

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calaboose

/ˌkæləˈbuːs/

Where it comes from

From Cajun French calabousse, from Spanish calabozo. Doublet of calabozo.

noun calabooses

Australia, US, dialectal A prison or jail/gaol. The slaughter-house is gone from the mouth of Bear Creek and so is the small jail (or 'calaboose') which once stood in its neighborhood. A citizen asked, 'Do you remember when Jimmy Finn, the town drunkard, was burned to death in the calaboose?'
Similar: big house, borstal, bridewell, brig, calaboose, can, chokey, choky, clink, correctional facility, correctional institution, crowbar hotel

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MLA

"calaboose." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/calaboose. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

calaboose. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/calaboose

Chicago

"calaboose." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/calaboose.

BibTeX

@misc{calaboose_2026,
  title = {calaboose},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/calaboose},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}