Verlies

See also: verlies

German

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Low German verlies (“loss”), cognate with Dutch verlies (“id.”) and pertaining to German verlieren (“to lose”). Apparently, the original meaning is “place where someone is lost”; possibly a second word (like “place”, “hole”) has been omitted, although no such compound seems to be attested.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛɐ̯ˈliːs/, /fɐˈliːs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: verließ
• Rhymes: -iːs

Noun

Verlies n (genitive Verlieses, plural Verliese, diminutive Verlieschen n)

1. dungeon (historic prison in a vault)

   Gefangene Feinde ließ man in Verliesen unterhalb der Burg verhungern.

   Captured enemies were starved to death in dungeons below the castle.

2. an underground prison or place of captivity

   Der Entführer hielt sein Opfer in einem eigens gebauten Verlies im Keller seines Hauses.

   The kidnapper held his victim in a specially built prison in the basement of his house.

Further reading

• “Verlies” in Duden online