coop

coop / ko͞op

noun

1. a pen; a hen house; a small cage

You need a plan for everything, whether it's building a cathedral or a chicken coop.

John Goddard, 1924 – 2013

2. a small, cramped space

THE stir of children with fresh dresses on,

And men who meet and say unguarded words,

And women from the coops

Of drudgeries released;

From "A Saint" by Padraic Colum, 1881 – 1972

3. (slang) a prison or jail

There’s good business all around, even for the police who charge several hundred dollars every time a guy gets through in the coop for getting too drunk.

Marc H. Meyer, “The Newest Gold Rush”, ‘The Harvard Crimson’, www.thecrimson.com/article/1977/1/18/the-newest-gold-rush-pbtbhere-are, January 18, 1977

verb

1. to keep caged or confined in a small area

Now and then a man exquisitely made can live alone, and must; but coop up most men and you undo them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803 - 1882