subs. (old).—A prison; the house of detention: see CAGE.
1624. CAPT. JOHN SMITH, Virginia, III., xi., 85. To stop the disorders of our disorderly Theeues … built a BLOCKHOUSE.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. BLOCK HOUSES, prisons, houses of correction, &c.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum. [Same definition given as in Grose.]
1889. MURRAY, New English Dictionary, [common since c. 1500: of uncertain history. The Ger. equivalent Blockhaus (‘ein Steines Blockhaus’) is quoted by Grimm, 1557 and 1602; the Du. blokhuis is in Kilian, 1599; Fr. blocus, generally considered to be the same word, and orig. in same sense, is quoted by Littré in the 16th c. (Cf., Bloccuz). So far as evidence goes, the Eng. is thus the earliest; but we should expect it to be of Du. or Ger. origin. In any case the sense was not originally (as in modern notion) a house composed of blocks of wood, but one which blocks or obstructs a passage. The history and age of the Ger. Blockhaus and Fr. blocus require more investigation.]
