house of correction
    n 1: (formerly) a jail or other place of detention for persons
         convicted of minor offences

Correction \Cor*rec"tion\ (k?r-r?k"sh?n), n. [L. correctio: cf.
   F. correction.]
   1. The act of correcting, or making that right which was
      wrong; change for the better; amendment; rectification, as
      of an erroneous statement.
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            The due correction of swearing, rioting, neglect of
            God's word, and other scandalouss vices. --Strype.
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   2. The act of reproving or punishing, or that which is
      intended to rectify or to cure faults; punishment;
      discipline; chastisement.
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            Correction and instruction must both work
            Ere this rude beast will profit.      --Shak.
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   3. That which is substituted in the place of what is wrong;
      an emendation; as, the corrections on a proof sheet should
      be set in the margin.
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   4. Abatement of noxious qualities; the counteraction of what
      is inconvenient or hurtful in its effects; as, the
      correction of acidity in the stomach.
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   5. An allowance made for inaccuracy in an instrument; as,
      chronometer correction; compass correction.
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   Correction line (Surv.), a parallel used as a new base line
      in laying out township in the government lands of the
      United States. The adoption at certain intervals of a
      correction line is necessitated by the convergence of of
      meridians, and the statute requirement that the townships
      must be squares.

   House of correction, a house where disorderly persons are
      confined; a bridewell.

   Under correction, subject to correction; admitting the
      possibility of error.
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HOUSE OF CORRECTIONS. A prison where offenders of a particular class are 
confined. The term is more common in England than in the United States.