gulag

Meanings

1. Also GULAG: the system of all Soviet labour camps and prisons in use, especially during the Stalinist period (1930s–1950s).
2. A prison camp, especially one used to hold political prisoners.
3. A place where, or political system in which, people with dissident views are routinely oppressed.

1. To compel (someone) into a forced labour camp or a similar place of confinement or exile.

1. Alternative letter-case form of gulag.

1. 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.

1. Alternative letter-case form of gulag.

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.