gulag
UK /ˈɡuːlɑɡ/ · US /ˈɡuˌlɑɡ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms gulags gulaging gulagging gulaged gulagged
- noun (historical) Also GULAG: the system of all Soviet labour camps and prisons in use, especially during the Stalinist period (1930s–1950s).
- noun A prison camp, especially one used to hold political prisoners.
- noun (also figuratively) A place where, or political system in which, people with dissident views are routinely oppressed.
- verb (transitive, informal, also figuratively) To compel (someone) into a forced labour camp or a similar place of confinement or exile.
- proper noun (historical) The government agency in charge of the Soviet Union's network of forced labour camps, which was established in 1918 and formally abolished in 1960.
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian ГУЛА́Г (GULÁG), the acronym of Гла́вное управле́ние исправи́тельно-трудовы́х лагере́й (Glávnoje upravlénije ispravítelʹno-trudovýx lageréj, “Chief Administration of Corrective-Labor Camps”), the government agency in charge of the Soviet Union’s network of forced labour camps, which was established in 1918 and formally abolished in 1960: see GULAG.
Borrowed from Russian ГУЛА́Г (GULÁG), the acronym of Гла́вное управле́ние исправи́тельно-трудовы́х лагере́й (Glávnoje upravlénije ispravítelʹno-trudovýx lageréj, “Chief Administration of Corrective-Labor Camps”): see the definition.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “gulag”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details