Noun: asylum u'sI-lum
- A shelter from danger or hardship
"They sought asylum in a foreign embassy";
- refuge, sanctuary
- A hospital for mentally incompetent or unbalanced person
"The old insane asylum was converted into a modern psychiatric treatment centre";
- mental hospital, psychiatric hospital, mental institution, institution, mental home, insane asylum [archaic]
Derived forms: asylums
Type of: hospital, infirmary, shelter
Encyclopedia: Asylum, Pennsylvania