prisoner's base

prisoner's base
any of various children's games in which each of two teams has a home base where members of the opposing team are kept prisoner after being tagged or caught and from which they can be freed only in specified ways. Also called prison base.
[1590-1600; cf. late ME bace prisoner's base, perh. from the phrase bringen bas to lay low, cause to surrender; later taken as an assimilated form of bars, pl. of BAR1, or as BASE1 (though the sense "goal or starting point" originated with this game)]

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Prisoner's base — Prisoner Pris on*er, n. [F. prisonnier.] 1. One who is confined in a prison. Piers Plowman. [1913 Webster] 2. A person under arrest, or in custody, whether in prison or not; a person held in involuntary restraint; a captive; as, a prisoner at the …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • prisoner's base — Base Base, n. [F. base, L. basis, fr. Gr. ba sis a stepping, step, a base, pedestal, fr. bai nein to go, step, akin to E. come. Cf. {Basis}, and see {Come}.] 1. The bottom of anything, considered as its support, or that on which something rests… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • prisoner's base — n. a children s game in which each side has a base to which captured opponents are brought …   English World dictionary

  • Prisoner's Base — infobox Book | name = Prisoner s Base title orig = translator = image caption = author = Rex Stout cover artist = Bill English country = United States language = English series = Nero Wolfe genre = Detective fiction publisher = Viking Press… …   Wikipedia

  • prisoner's base — noun a chasing game played by two groups of children each with a distinct base or home …   English new terms dictionary

  • prisoner's base — pris′oner s base′ n. gam a children s game in which members of two teams try to capture each other …   From formal English to slang

  • prisoner's base — noun a children s game; two teams capture opposing players by tagging them and taking them to their own base • Hypernyms: ↑game …   Useful english dictionary

  • prisoner's base — noun Date: circa 1773 a game in which players on each of two teams seek to tag and imprison players of the other team who have ventured out of their home territory …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • prisoner's base — type of children s game …   English contemporary dictionary

  • Prisoner — Pris on*er, n. [F. prisonnier.] 1. One who is confined in a prison. Piers Plowman. [1913 Webster] 2. A person under arrest, or in custody, whether in prison or not; a person held in involuntary restraint; a captive; as, a prisoner at the bar of a …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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