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definitions

gaol

[jeyl]
noun, verb (used with object) British.
  1. jail.
Related formsgaol·er, nounun·der·gaol·er, noun

jail

[jeyl]
noun
  1. a prison, especially one for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of minor offenses.
verb (used with object)
  1. to take into or hold in lawful custody; imprison.
Also British, gaol.

Origin of jail

1225–75; Middle English gaiole, jaiole, jaile < Old North French gaiole, Old French jaiole cage < Vulgar Latin *gaviola, variant of *caveola, diminutive of Latin cavea cage; see -ole1
Related formsjail·a·ble, adjectivejail·less, adjectivejail·like, adjectivenon·jail·a·ble, adjectivere·jail, verb (used with object)un·jailed, adjective
Can be confusedjail prison
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for gaol

Contemporary Examples of gaol

  • The freelancer has since served a gaol term, and so too has the paper's royal correspondent.

    The Daily Beast logo
    Murdoch Lieutenant Under Fire

    William Underhill

    March 11, 2011

Historical Examples of gaol

  • At York, we were put in the gaol, where we were kept three weeks.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • When we reached Montreal we were confined in a gaol where we remained three weeks.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • Is it no punishment, sir, for an innocent man to lie several months in gaol?

    Joseph Andrews Vol. 1

    Henry Fielding

  • After such an answer, Wingate could only send him to gaol: he could not help himself.

    Bunyan

    James Anthony Froude

  • They were apprehended, thrown into gaol, and brought to formal trial.

    Bunyan

    James Anthony Froude

British Dictionary definitions for gaol

gaol

noun, verb
  1. British a variant spelling of jail
Derived Formsgaoler, noun

jail

gaol

noun
  1. a place for the confinement of persons convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or of persons awaiting trial to whom bail is not granted
  2. get out of jail or get out of jail free informal to get out of a difficult situation
verb
  1. (tr) to confine in prison
Derived Formsjailless or gaolless, adjectivejail-like or gaol-like, adjective

Word Origin for jail

C13: from Old French jaiole cage, from Vulgar Latin caveola (unattested), from Latin cavea enclosure; see cage : the two spellings derive from the forms of the word that developed in two different areas of France, and the spelling gaol represents a pronunciation in use until the 17th century
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for gaol

see jail, you tea-sodden football hooligan.

jail

n.

late 13c., gayhol, from Old North French gaiole and Old French jaole, both meaning "a cage, prison," from Medieval Latin gabiola, from Late Latin caveola, diminutive of Latin cavea "cage, enclosure, stall, coop" (see cave (n.)). Both forms carried into Middle English; now pronounced "jail" however it is spelled. Persistence of Norman-derived gaol (preferred in Britain) is "chiefly due to statutory and official tradition" [OED].

jail

v.

"to put in jail," c.1600, from jail (n.). Related: Jailed; jailing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper