durance

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   literary or archaic: imprisonment or forced confinement, especially for a long time

   After years in durance, the political prisoner was finally released.

2. 2
   noun

   obsolete: duration or the capacity to endure

   The chronicler praised the bridge for the durance of its stonework.

From Old French durance ("duration, endurance; imprisonment"), from durer ("to last"), ultimately Latin durare ("to harden; endure"). The confinement sense survives chiefly in the phrase durance vile.

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