[doo
r-uhns, dyoor-] 
| 1. | incarceration or imprisonment (often used in the phrase durance vile). |
| 2. | Archaic. endurance. |
| du·rance (dŏŏr'əns, dyŏŏr'-) n. Confinement or restraint by force; imprisonment: "There should be a durance vile for justices who use an argument as weak as the one the majority used" (George F. Will). [Middle English duraunce, duration, from Old French durance, from durer, to last, from Latin dūrāre; see deuə- in Indo-European roots.] |