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ASYLUM
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
Synonyms:
asylum; insane asylum; institution; mental home; mental hospital; mental institution; psychiatric hospital
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("asylum" is a kind of...):
hospital; infirmary (a health facility where patients receive treatment)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "asylum"):
Bedlam; booby hatch; crazy house; cuckoo's nest; funny farm; funny house; loony bin; madhouse; nut house; nuthouse; sanatorium; snake pit (pejorative terms for an insane asylum)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A shelter from danger or hardship
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("asylum" is a kind of...):
shelter (a structure that provides privacy and protection from danger)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "asylum"):
harbor; harbour (a place of refuge and comfort and security)
safehold (a refuge from attack)
safe house (a house used as a hiding place or refuge by members of certain organizations)
Context examples:
The honeymoon over, I learned my mistake; she was only mad, and shut up in a lunatic asylum.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our train we could see the front of the asylum.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
No wood, however, was placed on the earth, which formed the floor, but it was dry; and although the wind entered it by innumerable chinks, I found it an agreeable asylum from the snow and rain.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
"In about a month I hope to be a bridegroom," continued Mr. Rochester; "and in the interim, I shall myself look out for employment and an asylum for you."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
That is one of the things that we learn in an asylum, at any rate.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
The porter opened the gates of the court, which had that night been my asylum, and I issued into the streets, pacing them with quick steps, as if I sought to avoid the wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my view.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
In truth it was humble—but then it was sheltered, and I wanted a safe asylum: it was plodding—but then, compared with that of a governess in a rich house, it was independent; and the fear of servitude with strangers entered my soul like iron: it was not ignoble—not unworthy—not mentally degrading, I made my decision.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
She knew, of course, that the place was a lunatic asylum, but I could see that she was unable to repress a shudder when we entered.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very large house only recently added to and formed into a private lunatic asylum.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Just fancy! He is only nine-and-twenty, and he has an immense lunatic asylum all under his own care.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
