jail delivery
Americannoun
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a liberation of persons from prison, especially by force.
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the act of clearing a jail of prisoners by bringing them to trial, as at the assizes in England.
noun
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forcible and illegal liberation of prisoners from jail
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English law (formerly) a commission issued to assize judges when they come to a circuit town authorizing them to try all prisoners and release those acquitted
Etymology
Origin of jail delivery
late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Well, who knows, perhaps there may be a general jail delivery there yet; but talking of the thing, I assure you, sir, I feel a portion of its tortures.
From The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain The Works of William Carleton, Volume One by William Carleton
Shortly afterwards a jail delivery enabled him to leave prison.
From Literary Byways by William Andrews
The wholesale jail delivery did not occur until well along into 1915.
From The Iron Heel by Jack London
This court has power also, for reasons satisfactory to them, to grant suspension, release, and jail delivery upon reprieves in capital and criminal cases.
From The Development of Religious Liberty in Connecticut by Maria Louise Greene
What cries of joy, what sobs of relief from the saner inmates, as they try to think their new, almost incredible jail delivery!
From Orphans of the Storm by Henry MacMahon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
