avail
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈveɪl/
rhymes: -eɪl
Forms: form: avails
Etymology: From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).
Senses: examples: text: I tried fixing it to no avail.
text: Labor, without economy, is of little avail.
text: Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 071:
text: At half-time, Poyet replaced Wes Brown with Liam Bridcutt in the heart of defence and sent out the rest of the players to atone for their first-half mistakes. To no avail.
ref: 2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian:
text: The announcement was made in Leeds - the largest city in Europe without a mass transit system. It's also a city which has been doggedly pressing (to little avail) for an integrated transport system for two decades.
ref: 2024 December 11, Richard Wilcock, “Strategy offers a chance to reset local transport planning”, in RAIL, number 1024, page 10:
glosses: Effect in achieving a goal or aim; purpose, use (now usually in negative constructions).
examples: text: the avails of their own industry
ref: 1862, Elijah Porter Barrows, The State And Slavery:
glosses: Proceeds; profits from business transactions.
examples: text: The salesperson at an affiliate TV station might prepare an avail which offers two weeks of spots in early and late news[…].
ref: 1994, Barry L. Sherman, Telecommunications Management: Broadcasting/cable and the New Technologies, →ISBN, page 353:
text: At an avail, the ad server plays out the MPEG-2 audio/video elementary streams.
ref: 2004, Walter S. Ciciora et al., Modern Cable Television Technology: Video, Voice, and Data Communications, →ISBN, page 123:
topics: advertising
broadcasting
business
marketing
media
television
glosses: An advertising slot or package.
examples: text: While holding an avail yesterday, the candidate lashed out at critics.
topics: government
journalism
media
politics
glosses: A press avail.
topics: acting
broadcasting
entertainment
film
lifestyle
media
television
theater
glosses: Non-binding notice of availability for work.
examples: text: Total crude oil avails (production plus purchases) of even highly "self-sufficient" refiners are far greater than their reported refinery inputs.
ref: 1967, Interstate Compact on Oil and Gas (10th Extension), page 95:
qualifier: oil industry
glosses: A readily available stock of oil.
examples: text: I shal take the aduenture sayd Balen that god wille ordeyne me / but the swerd ye shalle not haue at this tyme by the feythe of my body / ye shalle repente hit within short tyme sayd the damoysel/ For I wold haue the swerd more for your auaylle than for myne / for I am passyng heuy for your sake
ref: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “ij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book II:
text: hardy Citizens[…]sticke not to sacrifice their honours and consciences, as those of old, their lives, for their Countries availe and safety.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 1, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book III, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
text: So this friar, unworthy as he was of his holy calling, had me at an avail on every side, nor do I yet see what I could do but obey him, as I did.
ref: 1895, Andrew Lang, A Monk of Fife:
glosses: Benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.
examples: text: And ev'n now, though he breathless lies, his sails / Are struggling with the winds, for our avails / T'explore a passage hid from human tract, / Will fame him in the enterprise or fact.
ref: 1613, Thomas Campion, “Songs of Mourning”, in Poetical Works (in English) of Thomas Campion, published 1907, page 125:
glosses: Effort; striving.
Derived terms: imperfect authentic cadence
of no avail
perfect authentic cadence
to little avail
to no avail