Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

State \State\, n. [OE. stat, OF. estat, F. ['e]tat, fr. L.
   status a standing, position, fr. stare, statum, to stand. See
   {Stand}, and cf. {Estate}, {Status}.]
   1. The circumstances or condition of a being or thing at any
      given time.

            State is a term nearly synonymous with ``mode,'' but
            of a meaning more extensive, and is not exclusively
            limited to the mutable and contingent. --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.

            Declare the past and present state of things.
                                                  --Dryden.

            Keep the state of the question in your eye. --Boyle.

   2. Rank; condition; quality; as, the state of honor.

            Thy honor, state, and seat is due to me. --Shak.

   3. Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous
      circumstances; social importance.

            She instructed him how he should keep state, and yet
            with a modest sense of his misfortunes. --Bacon.

            Can this imperious lord forget to reign, Quit all
            his state, descend, and serve again?  --Pope.

   4. Appearance of grandeur or dignity; pomp.

            Where least og state there most of love is shown.
                                                  --Dryden.

   5. A chair with a canopy above it, often standing on a dais;
      a seat of dignity; also, the canopy itself. [Obs.]

            His high throne, . . . under state Of richest
            texture spread.                       --Milton.

            When he went to court, he used to kick away the
            state, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl.
                                                  --Swift.

   6. Estate, possession. [Obs.] --Daniel.

            Your state, my lord, again in yours.  --Massinger.

   7. A person of high rank. [Obs.] --Latimer.

   8. Any body of men united by profession, or constituting a
      community of a particular character; as, the civil and
      ecclesiastical states, or the lords spiritual and temporal
      and the commons, in Great Britain. Cf. {Estate}, n., 6.

   9. The principal persons in a government.

            The bold design Pleased highly those infernal
            states.                               --Milton.

   10. The bodies that constitute the legislature of a country;
       as, the States-general of Holland.

   11. A form of government which is not monarchial, as a
       republic. [Obs.]

             Well monarchies may own religion's name, But states
             are atheists in their very fame.     --Dryden.

   12. A political body, or body politic; the whole body of
       people who are united one government, whatever may be the
       form of the government; a nation.

             Municipal law is a rule of conduct prescribed by
             the supreme power in a state.        --Blackstone.

             The Puritans in the reign of Mary, driven from
             their homes, sought an asylum in Geneva, where they
             found a state without a king, and a church without
             a bishop.                            --R. Choate.

   13. In the United States, one of the commonwealth, or bodies
       politic, the people of which make up the body of the
       nation, and which, under the national constitution,
       stands in certain specified relations with the national
       government, and are invested, as commonwealth, with full
       power in their several spheres over all matters not
       expressly inhibited.

   Note: The term State, in its technical sense, is used in
         distinction from the federal system, i. e., the
         government of the United States.

   14. Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity
       between growth and decline, or as that of crisis between
       the increase and the abating of a disease; height; acme.
       [Obs.]

   Note: When state is joined with another word, or used
         adjectively, it denotes public, or what belongs to the
         community or body politic, or to the government; also,
         what belongs to the States severally in the American
         Union; as, state affairs; state policy; State laws of
         Iowa.

   {Nascent state}. (Chem.) See under {Nascent}.

   {Secretary of state}. See {Secretary}, n., 3.

   {State barge}a royal barge, or a barge belonging to a
      government.

   {State bed}, an elaborately carved or decorated bed.

   {State carriage}, a highly decorated carriage for officials
      going in state, or taking part in public processions.

   {State paper}, an official paper relating to the interests or
      government of a state. --Jay.

   {State prison}, a public prison or penitentiary; -- called
      also {State's prison}.

   {State prisoner}, one is confinement, or under arrest, for a
      political offense.

   {State rights}, or {States' rights}, the rights of the
      several independent States, as distinguished from the
      rights of the Federal government. It has been a question
      as to what rights have been vested in the general
      government. [U.S.]

   {State's evidence}. See {Probator}, 2, and under {Evidence}.
      

   {State sword}, a sword used on state occasions, being borne
      before a sovereign by an attendant of high rank.

   {State trial}, a trial of a person for a political offense.
      

   {States of the Church}. See under {Ecclesiastical}.

   Syn: {State}, {Situation}, {Condition}.

   Usage: State is the generic term, and denotes in general the
          mode in which a thing stands or exists. The situation
          of a thing is its state in reference to external
          objects and influences; its condition is its internal
          state, or what it is in itself considered. Our
          situation is good or bad as outward things bear
          favorably or unfavorably upon us; our condition is
          good or bad according to the state we are actually in
          as respects our persons, families, property, and other
          things which comprise our sources of enjoyment.

                I do not, brother, Infer as if I thought my
                sister's state Secure without all doubt or
                controversy.                      --Milton.

                We hoped to enjoy with ease what, in our
                situation, might be called the luxuries of life.
                                                  --Cock.

                And, O, what man's condition can be worse Than
                his whom plenty starves and blessings curse?
                                                  --Cowley.

Source : WordNet®

state prison
     n : a prison maintained by a state of the U.S.