Jail
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -eɪl
Alternative forms
- gaol UK, Australia, dated
Origin
From Middle English gaiole, gayle, gaile, gayll, via Old French gaiole, gaole, geole, geole, from Medieval Latin gabiola, for *caveola, a diminutive of Latin cavea ("cavity, coop, cage").
Full definition of jail
Noun
jail
(countable and uncountable; plural jails)- A place for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody or detention, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
- (uncountable) Confinement in a jail.
- 2011, December 14, Steven Morris, Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave, He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.
- (horse racing) The condition created by the requirement that a horse claimed in a claiming race not be run at another track for some period of time (usually 30 days).
- In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.
Usage notes
(prison) Like many nouns denoting places where people spend time, jail requires no article after certain prepositions: hence in jail ("detained in a jail"), go to jail ("become detained in a jail"), and so on. The forms in a jail, go to a jail, and so on do exist, but tend to imply mere presence in the jail, rather than detention there.
Until Monopoly popularised the spelling jail in the UK and Australia, gaol was the standard spelling in these countries.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Verb
- To imprison.
- 2013-08-10, Can China clean up fast enough?, It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.