prisoner

noun

Etymology: From Middle English prisoner, from Old French prisonier (compare Medieval Latin prisōnārius), equivalent to prison + -er.

1. A person incarcerated in a prison, while on trial or serving a sentence.

   “Two other prisoners were staying in the same cell as him.”

   “The evidence disclosed that the three prisoners were in a public-house together with the prosecutor, Abraham Rhodes, and that in concert with the other two prisoners, the prisoner John Dewhirst placed a pencase on the table in the room where they were assembled, and left the room to get writing-paper.”

2. Any person held against their will.

   “And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords / And either lanch his greedie thirſting throat, / Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerue / For Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home.”

   “Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.”

3. A person who is or feels confined or trapped by a situation or a set of circumstances.

   “I am no longer a prisoner to fear, for I am a child of God.”

   “I'm a prisoner of your love.”