jail
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- //d͡ʒeɪl//
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.
noun
- 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.
serve time in jail
released from jail
jail sentence
He was sent to jail for theft.
- 2
Confinement in a jail.
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.
- 3
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
A kind of sandbox for running a guest operating system instance.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh₁ós? Proto-Italic *kawos Latin cavus Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Indo-European *-éyos Proto-Italic *-ejos Proto-Italic *-eos Latin -eus Latin *caveus 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.
verb
- 1
To imprison, incarcerate, enjail.
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.
Hoping to everyone in Ghana will one day see and experience human rights. No one should be jailed or attacked because they are apart of the lgbtq^([sic]) community. I hope one day you all can seek refuge.
Forms
- plural
- jails
- past tense
- jailed
- past participle
- jailed
- present participle
- jailing
- third person singular
- jails
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