prisoner of war

n. pl. prisoners of war

A person taken by or surrendering to enemy forces in wartime.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

prisoner of war

(Military) a person, esp a serviceman, captured by an enemy in time of war. Abbreviation: POW

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pris′oner of war`

a person who is captured and held by an enemy during war, esp. a member of the armed forces. Abbr.: POW

prisoner of war

A detained person as defined in Articles 4 and 5 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of August 12, 1949. In particular, one who, while engaged in combat under orders of his or her government, is captured by the armed forces of the enemy. As such, he or she is entitled to the combatant's privilege of immunity from the municipal law of the capturing state for warlike acts which do not amount to breaches of the law of armed conflict. For example, a prisoner of war may be, but is not limited to, any person belonging to one of the following categories who has fallen into the power of the enemy: a member of the armed forces, organized militia or volunteer corps; a person who accompanies the armed forces without actually being a member thereof; a member of a merchant marine or civilian aircraft crew not qualifying for more favorable treatment; or individuals who, on the approach of the enemy, spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces. Also called POW or PW.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

prisoner of war - a person who surrenders to (or is taken by) the enemy in time of war

POW

captive, prisoner - a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war

Translations

سَجين حَرْب، أسير

válečný zajateczajatec

krigsfange

Kriegsgefangene

αιχμάλωτος πολέμου

sotavanki

prisonnier

hadifogoly

stríðsfangistríîsfangi

prigioniero di guerra

krigsfange

военнопленный

vojnový zajatec

savaş tutsağı

бранець

战俘

prisoner of war

n → prigioniero/a di guerra

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

prison

(ˈprizn) noun

a building in which criminals are kept; a jail. He was sent to prison; He is in prison.

ˈprisoner noun

anyone who has been captured and is held against his will as a criminal, in a war etc. The prisoners escaped from jail.

prisoner of war – plural prisoners of war

– a member of the armed forces captured in a war.

take/keep/hold prisoner

to (capture and) confine (a person) against his will. Many soldiers were killed and the rest taken prisoner; She was kept prisoner in a locked room.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

But with the closing sentence his hand began to curve and steal forward; and the instant the "Amen" was out the fly was a prisoner of war. His aunt detected the act and made him let it go.

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He can safely ride into the hostile ranks and become a prisoner of war. But this would defeat his object.

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I encouraged the fellow by granting all he desired; and, as an addition, I gave him the savage whom we had taken prisoner of war to be his slave, and ordered the governor Spaniard to give him his share of everything he wanted with the rest.

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It will go well indeed with Herr Hauptmann Fritz Schneider if he brings in the famous Tarzan of the Apes as a prisoner of war."

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After researchingHuyton's wartime past, the Liverpool Echo managed to contact Erich, who invited us to his home in Huyton to talk about his life and what it was like being a Prisoner of War on the King George V Playing Fields.

The German prisoner-of-war who loved Merseyside so much he never left; Erich Kirste, 93, is the last surviving resident of Huyton 's wartime prison camp

University of Sheffield archaeology students and the Sheffield Lakeland Landscape Partnership have been studying the remains of Prisoner of War Camp 17, which were swallowed up by woodland.

Researchers unearth remains of our largest POW camp

"Prisoner of War Number 2378" is a deftly scripted historical tribute to the incredible sacrifices made by prisoners taken by the Japanese Army during the invasion of Singapore.

Prisoner of War Number 2378

Part of the "America Through Time" series and featuring a wealth of historical black-and-white and some full-color photography, American Prisoner of War Camps in Arizona and Nevada is a window through time, revealing how the large prisoner of war camps affected the lives of people in Arizona and Nevada during World War II.

American Prisoner of War Camps in Arizona and Nevada

The court besides issuing a notice has also directed the government to file a case in the International Court of Justice, for seeking his release, as a prisoner of war, under the Simla Agreement signed between India and Pakistan for release of the prisoners of war.

ANOTHER PRISONER OF WAR

VILNIUS -- The French are considering building a memorial to their compatriots who died in prisoner of war camps in the Curonian Spit during the 19th century.

French consider building memorial to POWs in Lithuania's Curonian Spit

A LIVERPOOL man has revealed how his grandad kept a Prisoner of War diary, while a captive in Japan, by writing on leaves.

POW grandad wrote diary out on leaves; City man hands war artefact to British Museum