Word of the Day

Thursday, June 09, 2005

durance

\DUR-uhn(t)s; DYUR-\ , noun;

Imprisonment; confinement or restraint by or as if by force (usually used in the phrase "durance vile").

[Archaic] Endurance.

Quotes:

As any ex-con emerging from durance vile eventually realizes, things haven't remained the same on the outside while he was doing time.

-- "Deri's non-comeback", Jerusalem Post, June 27, 2003

Escaping from durance vile, our hero discovers the village where his colleague parked the trusty Tiger Moth.

-- Frederick Forsyth, "Impatient with The English Patient", Spectator, March 29, 1997

One is like a prisoner, without a moment's respite from durance vile.

-- Leah Garrett, "Trains and Train Travel in Modern Yiddish Literature", Jewish Social Studies, January 1, 2001

Origin:

Durance is from Middle English duraunce, "duration," from Old French durance, from durer, "to last; to endure," from Latin durare.