jail

[jeyl] /dʒeɪl/
noun
1.
a prison, especially one for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of minor offenses.
verb (used with object)
2.
to take into or hold in lawful custody; imprison.
Also, British, gaol.
Origin
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 forms
jailable, adjective
jailless, adjective
jaillike, adjective
nonjailable, adjective
rejail, verb (used with object)
unjailed, adjective
Can be confused
jail, prison.
Examples from the web for jail
  • In a former courthouse here, jail cells have been converted into offices and a courtroom adapted into a lecture hall.
  • It is a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card, relieving the speaker of accountability.
  • The difference between civil and criminal penalties is simply that you can't go to jail for civil penalties.
  • There's no evidence the two ever met outside of jail.
  • There are selfish reasons for this-you don't want to be beaten up or thrown in jail.
  • Putting parents in jail or fining or removing their children isn't the right answer.
  • The part that keeps them out of reform school, jail, and other areas of extreme social reaction.
  • If both decide to cooperate, they will each get five years in jail.
  • Maybe you could volunteer in special education or better yet at any local jail so that you can get your facts straight.
  • jail time for some of these rogue cops would help settle the rest of them down.
British Dictionary definitions for jail

jail

/dʒeɪl/
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.
(informal) get out of jail, get out of jail free, to get out of a difficult situation
verb
3.
(transitive) to confine in prison
Derived Forms
jailless, gaolless, adjective
jail-like, gaol-like, adjective
Word Origin
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
Word Origin and History for 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].

v.

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

Slang definitions & phrases for jail

jail

verb

To live tolerably in jail; survive imprisonment: Roy taught me how to jail (1980s+)