To put someone in jail or lock them up as punishment for a crime or to keep them confined.
From Old French 'emprisoner,' combining 'en-' (in) and 'prison' (from Latin 'prehendere' meaning to seize). The word evolved to mean confinement by force or law.
While we think of prisons as modern institutions, humans have imprisoned each other since ancient times—the oldest known prison, built in Egypt around 2500 BCE, looked surprisingly similar to medieval dungeons!
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