PRISONER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does prisoner mean? 

• PRISONER (noun)
  The noun PRISONER has 1 sense:

1. a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war

  Familiarity information: PRISONER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRISONER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

captive; prisoner

Hypernyms ("prisoner" is a kind of...):

unfortunate; unfortunate person (a person who suffers misfortune)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "prisoner"):

con; convict; inmate; yard bird; yardbird (a person serving a sentence in a jail or prison)

detainee; political detainee (some held in custody)

hostage; surety (a prisoner who is held by one party to insure that another party will meet specified terms)

internee (a person who is interned)

political prisoner (someone who is imprisoned because of their political views)

POW; prisoner of war (a person who surrenders to (or is taken by) the enemy in time of war)

 Context examples 

The government was compelled, therefore, to use smaller and less suitable vessels for sending out their prisoners.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Yes, sir, I am your prisoner,” she said.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I told them, “I was their prisoner, and would submit.”

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But the bird set up such a loud scream that all the soldiers awoke, and they took him prisoner and carried him before the king.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

As to who this prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to America.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Felix visited the grate at night and made known to the prisoner his intentions in his favour.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Ere the sun had sunk again he was dead, and I the prisoner of Sir John Chandos.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The two friends chatted in intimate converse for a few minutes, recalling once again the days of the past, while their prisoner vainly wriggled to undo the bonds that held him.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, sir, he was like the rest of us; every time he looked at my prisoner, I saw that sawbones turn sick and white with the desire to kill him.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But there was no rifle-firing for the reason that all their hunters were out in the boats or our prisoners.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)