Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. solitary confinement in prison or one who is undergoing it; also used fig.

[1822		Morn. Chron. (London) 25 Apr. 2/4: Mr Hunt [...] applied to Mr Justice Bayley, to know whether his imprisonment was to be solitary? [...] Judge Bayley [...] expressly declared that Mr Hunt’s imprisonment was not to be solitary, or in any manner aggravated].
1827		Nat. Gaz. (Philadelphia, PA) 22 Sept. 1/4: The practical application of those principles, in reference to the utility of solitary, or, more properly, the separate confinement of prisoners.
1837		Bristol Mercury 14 Jan. 4/4: Three Months: [...] Ann James (three weeks solitary).
1840		Exeter Flying Post 8 Jan. 3/4: Wm. Mortimer, 29, imprisoned 2 calendar months, hard labour, 12 days solitary, 3 days at a time.
1851		Liverpool Mercury 30 Dec. 5/3: Samuel Minguey [...] four months imprisonment, hard labour, one week solitary, and once whipped.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor III 385/2: I was put into solitary for three days and three nights.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 257: A man gets tender-’arted when he’s doing ‘solitary’ for any length of time.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Jun. 11/1: He considers that the effect of a ‘week’s solitary’ upon the lively larrikin is ‘to kill what social feeling he has.’.
1887		Sun (NY) 23 Dec. 3/1: The ‘solitaries’ saw none but their keepers.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 16 Aug. 11/4: How glibly does your judge order ‘solitary,’ and then go off to his cutlets and burgundy!
1901		J. Flynt World of Graft 182: You know how it is when you’re doin’ solitary—you get to thinkin’ about all kinds o’ things.
1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 167: A man who was confined in ‘solitary’ for five years.
1934		V.G. Burns Female Convict (1960) 74: What have you done? You’re going into solitary.
1955		‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 66: He put me in solitary. A little later, they transferred me to Leavenworth to serve out the rest of my sentence.
1965		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 216: His pistol and solitary discomfort me.
1977		K. Gilbert Living Black 244: I got some more solitary and bread and water.
1982		H. Beaton Outside In Act II: While Ginny was doin’ solitary, while she was in the digger we got quite friendly.
1999		Guardian G2 23 Aug. 8: Ten years solitary in boarding school picking his zits with a tweezer.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 117: When our solitary was finished we went back to B-Two to a hero’s welcome.
2016		Star Trib. (Minneapolis, MN) 4 Dec. A6/2: One man spent more than seven consecutive years in solitary.

2. (US prison) a solitary confinement cell.

1897

St Paul Globe (MN) 15 Dec. 7/1: He was manacled in the solitary.

3. (Aus. Und.) an act of crime performed without an accomplice.

1901

W.S. Walker In the Blood 143: ‘Solitary’s’ none too small for me. / I ‘fly a kite,’ or ‘bill,’ as ‘fence’ I show my skill.