dungeon
The definition of a dungeon is a prison cell or prison area, usually in a basement of a castle.
(noun)An example of a dungeon is the dark room with bars on it under the first floor of the castle where the king keeps his prisoners.
See dungeon in Webster's New World College Dictionary
noun
- donjon
- a dark underground cell, vault, or prison
Origin: ME dongoun < OFr donjon, prob. < Frank *dungjo, earth-covered cellar for storing fruits: see dung
transitive verb
See dungeon in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun
- A dark, often underground chamber or cell used to confine prisoners.
- A donjon.
Origin:
Origin: Middle English donjon, castle keep, dungeon
Origin: , from Old French, keep
Origin: , probably from Medieval Latin domniō, domniōn-, the lord's tower
Origin: , from Latin dominus, master; see dem- in Indo-European roots
. Word History: The word dungeon may have gone down in the world quite literally, if one etymology of the word is correct. Dungeon may go back to a Medieval Latin word, domniō, meaning “the lord's tower,” which came from Latin dominus, “master.” In Middle English, in which our word is first recorded in a work composed around the beginning of the 14th century, it meant “a fortress, castle” and “the keep of a castle,” as well as “a prison cell underneath the keep of the castle.” Dungeon can still mean “keep,” although the usual spelling for this sense is donjon, but the meaning most usually associated with it is certainly not elevated. It is also possible that dungeon goes back to a Germanic word related to our word dung. This assumed Germanic word would have meant “an underground house constructed of dung.” If this etymology is correct, the word dungeon has ended up where it began.Learn more about dungeon
