avail
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: acting
advertising
broadcasting
business
entertainment
film
government
journalism
lifestyle
marketing
media
politics
television
theater
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: avails
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: availing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: availed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: availed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: avails
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To turn to the advantage of.
pos: verb
tags: often
reflexive
transitive
examples: I availed myself of the opportunity.
It asserts that the museum has clear protocols for dealing with any form of discrimination or discontent, which it says [Tanya] Barson never availed herself of, […]
gloss: To be of service to.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Artifices will not avail the sinner in the day of judgment.
gloss: To promote; to assist.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To be of use or advantage; to answer or serve the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The plea in court must avail.
This scheme will not avail.
Medicines will not avail to halt the disease.
All of this avail’d not, for whoe’er he be
 That tells my faults, I hate him mortally; […]
Words avail very little with me, young man.
All day long to Mung cry out the Priests of Mung, and yet Mung harkeneth not. What, then, shall avail the prayers of All the People?
gloss: To provide; to make available.
pos: verb
tags: Africa
India
examples: With this initiative, Valucard becomes an open system that is not limited to point of sale (POS) transactions, but now avails cash to its holders in various locations nationwide.
gloss: To use or take advantage of (an opportunity or resource).
pos: verb
tags: Africa
India
examples: You can avail discounts on food.
Over 85.3% of all persons who have adopted this method of contraception availed this service from government facilities.
gloss: Effect in achieving a goal or aim; purpose, use (now usually in negative constructions).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I tried fixing it to no avail.
Labor, without economy, is of little avail.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: Proceeds; profits from business transactions.
pos: noun
tags: US
countable
uncountable
examples: the avails of their own industry
gloss: An advertising slot or package.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The salesperson at an affiliate TV station might prepare an avail which offers two weeks of spots in early and late news[…].
At an avail, the ad server plays out the MPEG-2 audio/video elementary streams.
gloss: A press avail.
pos: noun
tags: US
countable
uncountable
examples: While holding an avail yesterday, the candidate lashed out at critics.
gloss: Non-binding notice of availability for work.
pos: noun
tags: UK
countable
uncountable
gloss: A readily available stock of oil.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Total crude oil avails (production plus purchases) of even highly "self-sufficient" refiners are far greater than their reported refinery inputs.
gloss: Benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: 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
hardy Citizens[…]sticke not to sacrifice their honours and consciences, as those of old, their lives, for their Countries availe and safety.
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.
gloss: Effort; striving.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
poetic
uncountable
examples: 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.
Antonyms: disavail
Derived words: available
availful
availment
disavail
reavail
unavailed
of no avail
to little avail
to no avail
Translations: