detain (v.)

  1. deprive of freedom; take into confinement

    [ Syn: confine ]

  2. stop or halt; Please stay the bloodshed!

    [ Syn: stay , delay ]

  3. cause to be slowed down or delayed; Traffic was delayed by the bad weather; she delayed the work that she didnt want to perform

    [ Syn: delay , hold up ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.