quod

plural quods · alternative quad

1. countableA quadrangle or court, as of a prison; a prison.

   Pity McNamara′s still doing his stretch in the quod, but he′ll be out soon.

   2006, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, page 202

   3 more examples

   1863, Punch, quoted in 1995, Seán McConville, English Local Prisons, 1860-1900: Next Only to Death, page 69, […] not the poorer classes merely, but the rich will be desirous to enjoy the mingled luxury and comfort of a gaol: and we shall hear of blasé Swells become burglars and garotters as a prelude to a prison, and, instead of taking tours for restoration of their health, recruiting it more cheaply by a residence in quod.

   […]and declined their escort, desiring to be conducted to “quod” by the gallant South Australian police,[…].

   1878, John Wrathall Bull, Early Experiences of Colonial Life in South Australia, page 264

   From 1855-1903 a chapel was built, the boat shed and holding cell constructed, Government House was constructed as a summer residence for the Governor and the Quod (slang for prison) was constructed.

   2000, R.I.C. Publications, Workbook E: Society and Environment, page 48

2. AustraliaslanguncountableConfinement in a prison.

   c. 1894, Acquaintance of Norman Lindsay, quoted in 2005, James Cockington, Banned: Tales From the Bizarre History of Australian Obscenity, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, paperback →ISBN, page 7, I don′t suppose you'll get more than a couple of months′ quod for them.

present singular third person quods · participle present quodding · participle past quodded · past quodded

1. archaicslangTo confine in prison.

   An intelligent costermonger, who was with me when I saw the two brothers, told me that “a costermonger would rather be thought to have come out of prison than out of a workhouse,” for his “mates” would say, if they heard he had been locked up, “O, he’s only been quodded for pitching into a crusher.”

   1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861

1. obsoleteQuoth.

   “And therefore I have granted to their request,” quod the King;[…].

   1908, James Gairdner, Lollardy and the Reformation in England: An Historical Survey, Cambridge University Press, published 2010, page 416

   1 more example

   “Why,” quod her friend, “would ye not willingly have gone with your company, if God should so have suffered it?”

   1563, John Foxe, “Actes and Monuments”, in The Church Historians of England: Reformation Period, published 1868, Volume 8, Part 1, page 422