jail
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /d͡ʒeɪ(ə)l/
rhymes: -eɪl
Forms: form: jails
form: gaol
Etymology: From Middle English gayole, gaylle, gaille, gayle, gaile, from Old French gaiole, gayolle, gaole, from Medieval Latin gabiola, from Late Latin caveola (“small cage, cell”), a diminutive of Latin cavea (“cavity, coop, cage”). Doublet of caveola and related to cage. More at cajole.
Fully displaced native Middle English quartern (“prison, jail, cell”), from Old English cweartern (“jail, prison”).
Partially displaced native Middle English lok, from Old English loc (“enclosure, pen; jail, prison”), whence lock; and Middle English carcern, from Old English carcern, from Latin carcer (“prison, jail”).
Compare these Old English words, all meaning “jail”: heaþor, heolstorloca (means also “jail cell”), clūstorloc, dung (also “dungeon”), hlinræced, nirwþ, nīedcleofa, hearmloca, and nearu.
Senses: examples: text: serve time in jail
text: released from jail
text: jail sentence
text: He was sent to jail for theft.
text: She visited her brother in jail.
text: Taking a shower at the high school, Tommy (the Kitten) Cavanaugh kids Ugly Palmers. "Ugly, if you think the world is coming to an end," he says, "what are you wasting your time here at this jail for? You gonna need American history up there?"
ref: 1966, Robert Coover, “Part II, section 11”, in The Origin of the Brunists, 1st edition, page 218:
text: “I’m out!” That, of course, is an excerpt from Robert Durst’s children’s books [sic], Goodbye Jail. “Goodbye money. Goodbye bail. I killed them all, but goodbye jail. Of course! Of course!”
ref: 2015 June 7, “Bail”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 16, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
synonyms: slammer
hoosegow
hypernyms: correctional facility
correctional institution
coordinate_terms: big house
prison
glosses: A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in Guardian:
glosses: Confinement in a jail.
topics: hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
pets
racing
sports
glosses: 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).
glosses: In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A kind of sandbox for running a guest operating system instance.
Synonyms: word: big house
word: borstal
word: bridewell
word: brig
word: calaboose
word: can
word: chokey
word: choky
word: clink
word: correctional facility
word: correctional institution
word: crowbar hotel
word: detention centre
word: dungeon
word: gaol
word: glasshouse
word: graybar hotel
word: guardhouse
word: gulag
word: hock
word: hole
word: honor farm
word: hoosegow
word: house of detention
word: iron house
word: jail
word: jailhouse
word: joint
word: jug
word: juvenile hall
word: juvie
word: lockup
word: nigger university
word: nick
word: pen
word: penal colony
word: penitentiary
word: pokey
word: porridge
word: prison
word: prison camp
word: prison farm
word: prison hulk
word: prison ship
word: queer ken
word: remand center
word: roundhouse
word: slammer
word: slam
word: stalag
word: stir
word: stockade
word: tronk
word: up the river
word: workhouse
word: Alcatraz
word: Attica
word: Bastille
word: Dartmoor
word: Devil's Island
word: Folsom
word: Hanoi Hilton
word: Leavenworth
word: Lefortovo
word: Maze
word: Pelican Bay
word: San Quentin
word: Sing Sing
word: Tower
Meronyms: word: bar
word: cell
word: cellblock
word: death row
word: gate
word: solitary
word: solitary confinement
word: wall
word: ward
word: yard
word: chaplain
word: con
word: convict
word: corrections officer
word: criminal
word: detainee
word: inmate
word: jailbird
word: jailer
word: prison guard
word: prison matron
word: screw
word: trusty
word: turnkey
word: warden
word: warder
word: wardress
Derived terms: air jail
black jail
county jail
enjail
Facebook jail
gay baby jail
get-out-of-jail-free card
get out of jail free card
grippy sock jail
horny jail
in jail
jailbait
jail-bait
jail bait
jail bars
jailbird
jail bird
jail-bird
jailbreak
jail break
jailbreaker
jail cell
jaildom
jailer
jail fever
jail fodder
jailful
jailhouse
jailish
jail juice
jailkeeper
jail khana
jailless
jaillike
jail lock
jailmate
jailor
jail purse
jail sentence
Jailtacht
jailtime
jailward
jailwards
jailyard
movie jail
nonjail
phone jail
superjail
unjail
Related terms: word: chain gang
word: furlough
word: parole
word: prisoner
word: imprison