JAILS

Noun

jails

plural of jail

Verb

jails

Third-person singular simple present indicative form of jail

Anagrams

• jalis

Source: Wiktionary


JAIL

Jail, n. Etym: [OE. jaile, gail, gayhol, OF. gaole, gaiole, jaiole, F. geƓle, LL. gabiola, dim. of gabia cage, for L. cavea cavity, cage. See Cage.]

Definition: A kind of prison; a building for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding. [Written also gaol.] This jail I count the house of liberty. Milton. Jail bird, a prisoner; one who has been confined in prison. [Slang] - - Jail delivery, the release of prisoners from jail, either legally or by violence.

– Jail delivery commission. See under Gaol.

– Jail fever (Med.), typhus fever, or a disease resembling it, generated in jails and other places crowded with people; -- called also hospital fever, and ship fever.

– Jail liberties, or Jail limits, a space or district around a jail within which an imprisoned debtor was, on certain conditions, allowed to go at large. Abbott.

– Jail lock, a peculiar form of padlock; -- called also Scandinavian lock.

Jail, v. t.

Definition: To imprison. [R.] T. Adams (1614). [Bolts] that jail you from free life. Tennyson.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

29 May 2025

CRITICAL

(adjective) characterized by careful evaluation and judgment; ā€œa critical readingā€; ā€œa critical dissertationā€; ā€œa critical analysis of Melville’s writingsā€


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

In 1884, Angelo Moriondo of Turin, Italy, demonstrated the first working example of an espresso machine.

coffee icon