鉄てっ窓そう

noun

iron-barred window

Literally a window fitted with iron bars; often evokes an image of a prison or detention facility.

• 古ふるい刑けい務む所しょの鉄てっ窓そうからわずかな光ひかりが差さし込こんでいた。

  A little light came in through the iron-barred window of the old prison.

noun

prison; jail

Metonymic use: the barred window stands for the prison itself. Literary or slightly old-fashioned.

• 彼かれは長ながい間あいだ鉄てっ窓そうの身みとなった。

  He spent many years behind bars.