jail
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: computing
engineering
hobbies
horse-racing
horseracing
horses
lifestyle
mathematics
natural-sciences
pets
physical-sciences
racing
sciences
sports
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁-der.
Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh₁ós?
Proto-Italic *kawos
Latin cavus
Latin cavea
Proto-Indo-European *-lós
Proto-Indo-European *-elós
Proto-Italic *-elos
Latin -ulus
Latin -ola
Late Latin caveola
Anglo-Norman jaiolebor.
Middle English gayole
English jail
Inherited from Middle English gayole, borrowed from Anglo-Norman jaiole, from Late Latin caveola, from Latin cavea (“cage”) + -ola (diminutive ending). 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.
Inflected forms:
form: jails
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: gaol
pos: noun
tags: alternative
UK
dated
form: jails
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: jailing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: jailed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: jailed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: gaol
pos: verb
tags: alternative
UK
dated
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: serve time in jail
released from jail
jail sentence
He was sent to jail for theft.
She visited her brother in jail.
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?"
“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!”
gloss: Confinement in a jail.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: 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).
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A kind of sandbox for running a guest operating system instance.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
usually
gloss: To imprison.
pos: verb
examples: 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.
A 22-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for fatally stabbing 22-year-old Tashan Daniel in an unprovoked attack at Hillingdon Underground station on September 24 2019.
Synonyms: big house
borstal
bridewell
brig
calaboose
can
chokey
choky
clink
correctional facility
correctional institution
crowbar hotel
detention centre
dungeon
gaol
glasshouse
graybar hotel
guardhouse
gulag
hock
hole
honor farm
hoosegow
house of detention
iron house
jail
jailhouse
joint
jug
juvenile hall
juvie
lockup
nigger university
nick
pen
penal colony
penitentiary
pokey
porridge
prison
prison camp
prison farm
prison hulk
prison ship
queer ken
remand center
roundhouse
slammer
slam
stalag
stir
stockade
tronk
up the river
workhouse
Alcatraz
Attica
Bastille
Dartmoor
Devil's Island
Folsom
Hanoi Hilton
Leavenworth
Lefortovo
Maze
Pelican Bay
San Quentin
Sing Sing
Tower
Related words: chain gang
furlough
parole
prisoner
imprison
Derived words: air jail
black jail
county jail
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
jail-bird
jail bird
jailbird
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 school
jail sentence
Jailtacht
jailtime
jailward
jailwards
jailyard
movie jail
nonjail
phone jail
superjail
under the jail
unjail
enjail
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: vankila