confine

See also: confiné

English

Etymology

From Middle French confiner, from confins, from Medieval Latin confines, from Latin confinium, from confīnis.

Pronunciation

• (verb) enPR: kənfīnʹ, IPA^(key): /kənˈfaɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (noun)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnfaɪn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • (US) enPR: känʹfīn, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnfaɪn/
• Rhymes: -aɪn

Verb

confine (third-person singular simple present confines, present participle confining, simple past and past participle confined)

1. (obsolete) To have a common boundary with; to border on. [16th–19th c.]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Where your gloomy bounds / Confine with heaven

   • 1717, John Dryden, “Book XII”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Betwixt heaven and earth and skies there stands a place / Confining on all three.

   • 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford, published 2008, page 467:

     ‘Why, Sir, to be sure, such parts of Sclavonia as confine with Germany, will borrow German words; and such parts as confine with Tartary will borrow Tartar words.’

2. (transitive) To restrict (someone or something) to a particular scope or area; to keep in or within certain bounds. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: pen, hem in

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     Now let not nature's hand / Keep the wild flood confined! let order die!

   • 1680, John Dryden, Ovid’s Epistles translated by several hands, London: Jacob Tonson, Preface,^[1]

     He is to confine himself to the compass of numbers and the slavery of rhyme.

   • 1993, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick and Harold Tarrant, “Justice and Duty (i): Socrates Speaks at his Trial: the Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), revised edition, London; New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 41:

     Here perhaps one of you might interrupt me and say, 'But what is it that you do, Socrates? How is it that you have been misrepresented like this? Surely all this talk and gossip about you would never have arisen if you had confined yourself to ordinary activities, but only if your behaviour was abnormal. Give us the explanation, if you do not want us to draw our own conclusions.'

Derived terms

• confinable
• confination
• confinee
• confine oneself
• deconfine
• reconfine
• unconfine

Translations

to restrict; to keep within bounds

• Albanian: ngujoj (sq)
• Bulgarian: огранича́вам (bg) (ograničávam)
• Catalan: confinar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 局限 (zh) (júxiàn), 囿於 / 囿于 (yòuyú) (to be confined to)

• Czech: poutat, omezovat (cs), tísnit (cs), omezit (cs) pf
• Dutch: begrenzen (nl), inperken (nl), beperken (nl)
• Finnish: (to restrict) rajoittaa (fi), (to shut/keep in a limited space/area) rajata (fi)
• French: confiner (fr)
• German: beschränken (de)
• Greek: περιορίζω (el) (periorízo)

  Ancient: κατακλείω (katakleíō)

• Hungarian: korlátoz (hu)
• Ingrian: rajata
• Japanese: 限る (ja) (かぎる, kagiru)
• Korean: 가두다 (ko) (gaduda)
• Latin: compescō, inclūdō
• Maori: whakatiki, whakatina, hamaruru
• Norwegian: begrense (no)
• Occitan: confinar (oc)
• Persian: محصور کردن (mahsur kardan), حبس کردن (fa) (habs kardan)
• Portuguese: confinar (pt)
• Russian: ограни́чивать (ru) impf (ograníčivatʹ), ограни́чить (ru) pf (ograníčitʹ)
• Spanish: confinar (es), encorsetar (es)
• Swedish: begränsa (sv), inskränka (sv)
• Telugu: పరిమితము (te) (parimitamu), పరిమితము చేయు (parimitamu cēyu), నిర్బంధించు (te) (nirbandhiñcu)
• Vietnamese: nhốt (vi)

detain — see detain

lock up — see lock up

arrest — see arrest

imprison — see imprison

incarcerate — see incarcerate

Noun

confine (plural confines)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A boundary or limit.
2. (poetic) Confinement, imprisonment.
   • a. 1917, anonymous, “Lord Bateman” (folk song) as published in Bertrand Harris Bronson (1959) The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, vol. 1, p. 419:

     She says for you to bring her a slice of cake,
     A bottle of the best wine,
     And not to forget the fair young lady
     That did release you from close confine.

Synonyms

• (limit): border, bound, limit

Derived terms

• confineless

Translations

limit

• Bulgarian: граници (bg) (granici), предел (bg) (predel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 界限 (zh) (jièxiàn)

• Dutch: limiet (nl)
• Finnish: raja (fi)
• French: limite (fr) f
• German: Begrenzung (de) f
• Greek: όριο (el) n (ório)
• Korean: 감금 (ko) (gamgeum)
• Portuguese: confim (pt) m
• Russian: грани́ца (ru) f (graníca), преде́л (ru) m (predél), лими́т (ru) m (limít)
• Spanish: confín (es) m, raya (es) f

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fin/
• Homophones: confinent, confines

Verb

confine

1. inflection of confiner:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Galician

Verb

confine

1. inflection of confinar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

Etymology

From Latin cōnfīnis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konˈfi.ne/
• Rhymes: -ine
• Hyphenation: con‧fì‧ne

Noun

confine m (plural confini)

1. border, frontier
2. boundary

Synonyms

• limite

Related terms

• confinante
• confinare
• confinario
• confino

Latin

Adjective

cōnfīne

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of cōnfīnis

Portuguese

Verb

confine

1. inflection of confinar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

confine

1. inflection of confinar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative