Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A place for the confinement of persons in lawful detention, especially persons awaiting trial under local jurisdiction.
- n. Detention in a jail.
- v. To detain in or as if in a jail.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A prison; a building or place for the confinement of persons arrested for crime or for debt; usually, in the United States, a place of confinement for minor offenses in a county.
- To confine in or as if in a jail; imprison.
Wiktionary
- n. A place for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody or detention, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
- n. uncountable Confinement in a jail.
- n. slang school
- n. horse racing 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).
- v. To imprison.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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.
- v. rare To imprison.
WordNet 3.0
- v. lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
- n. a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government (either accused persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a sentence)
Etymologies
- From Middle English gaiole, gayle, gaile, gayll, via Old French gaiole, gaole, geole, geole, from Medieval Latin gabiola, for *caveola, a diminutive of Latin cavea ("cavity, coop, cage"). (Wiktionary)
- From Middle English jaiole (from Old French) and from Middle English gaiol, gaol (from Old North French gaiole), both from Vulgar Latin *gaviola, from Latin *caveola, diminutive of cavea, cage, hollow. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Assuming all judicial systems around the world are basically right and that everyone in jail is supposed to be there, the United States of America (home of the brave and land of the free) is by far the most criminally-infested country in the world, followed only by Russia.”
“So putting two people in jail is a human rights violation, but her husband's actions, who caused about 100,000+ deaths, in Iraq is not?”
“The AG that should be in jail is the current AG and the POTUS for war crimes and crimes against humanity and trampling the Constitution.”
“Scott Norberg, (google his name) who died in jail, is an example.”
“Nicole True, Mr. Jimenez Ruano 's lawyer, said, "People forget that the way someone ends up in jail is based on a human being making a decision.”
“Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most pressing issue.”
Geert Wilders banned from the UK but here's what he would have said
“I speak from personal experience when I say that all most of them are concerned about when they are put in jail is getting out and getting on with THEIR lives.”
“Putting some of these low life in jail is very costly and they will only learn more ways of criminality.”
“After all, Jigsaw said "In the event of my disapearence, the evidence needed to put you in jail is in the right places.”
Saw V and Saw VI Updates - Plot, Director, and More! « FirstShowing.net
“Kate not being in jail is a good reason for an alternate time line theory?”
The Tail Section » Theory Time - Rite Aid Confirms Christian Shephard Alive
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘jail’.
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Society
social work, coverage, affiliate, social security, ambulance, clinic, health, insurance, emergency, mail, letter, envelope and 101 more...
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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JURI - courtroom speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
accused, acquittal, ADA, adjournment, adjudication, affidavit, affirmed, aggravated range, aggravating factors, allegation, alleged, answer and 794 more...
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animal group
Names for Groups of Animals.
clever madeupicals and human groups are fine.
( open list, randomness )
also see:
swarm, herd, flock, group, pack, school, shoal, click, gang, army, colony, tribe and 81 more... -
Scrabble words which start with the l...
juvenile, juvenal, jutty, jute, jut, justness, justly, justle, justify, justice, juster, just and 534 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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junestag's Words
postmodernism, cat, fish, rabbit, dell, coffee, elearning, mazda, php, mysql, flash, blogger and 755 more...
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soul mate
soul mate, soul mates, soul, portishead, wounded, death, depression, hurt, the cure, pain, longing, rat and 424 more...
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House, Sweet House
"House" words and phrases, literal and figurative. If another word comes before "house" in the phrase, it's listed on its own; if the phrase starts with "house," I've listed the part that comes aft...
publishing, brokerage, bridge, deck, smoke, road, vaudeville, whore, of representatives, of ill repute, of worship, movie and 174 more...
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Tunie: French Perfume
By Great Big Sea on their CD "Sea of No Cares," 2002.
It's of a bold young smuggler
From Fortune he did sail
He rode the waves from St. Pierre
And he never saw the jailfoggy, cold, fire, lit up, sky, clicks, fifty, rocks, choir, banshee, angry, lifting and 35 more...
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Gramograms: Words that sound like let...
From --Chris Cole, "Wordplay: A curious dictionary of language oddities".
apiarian, beadier, cesium, devious, eosinophilous, effeminacy, gillotti, iberian, jacuzzi, caseous, elementarily, eminency and 29 more...
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The Pokey, the Big House, The Slammer
can, big house, slammer, clink, jail, pen, oubliette, the pokey, sisters, punk, cage, cooler and 28 more...
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Jail Terms
Synonyms for 'jail.' Some of these shamelessly pilfered from spicolli's list: http://www.wordnik.com/lists/the-pokey-the-b...
jail, prison, can, big house, slammer, clink, pen, oubliette, cage, cooler, solitary, penitentiary and 64 more...
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hideout
places to hide
bunker, cave, safe house, shelter, attic, tunnel, closet, refrigerator, basement, tree, trunk, chamber and 47 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for jail.
oroboros Sounds like the letters J L. Oct 28, 2009