English
jail
Etymology

From Middle English gayole, gaylle, gaille, gayle, gaile, via Old French gaiole, gayolle, gaole, from Medieval Latin gabiola, for Late Latin caveola, a diminutive of Latin cavea.

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /d͡ʒeɪ(ə)l/
Noun

jail

  1. 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.
    Synonyms: slammer, hoosegow
    Hypernyms: correctional facility, correctional institution
    Coordinate terms: big house, prison
  2. (uncountable) Confinement in a jail.
  3. (horse racing, uncountable) 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).
  4. In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.
  5. (computing, FreeBSD, usually uncountable) A kind of sandbox for running a guest operating system instance.
Translations Translations Verb

jail (jails, present participle jailing; simple past and past participle jailed)

  1. To imprison.
Synonyms

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