Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To be of use or advantage to; help.
  • intransitive verb To be of use, value, or advantage; serve.
  • noun Use, benefit, or advantage.
  • idiom (avail (oneself) of) To make use of.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Advantage, profit, or benefit, in a general sense; also, value or estimation.
  • noun Efficacy for a purpose; advantage to an object or end: now used chiefly in negative phrases, or sentences of negative import: as, of little or no avail; I doubt whether it will be of much avail.
  • noun plural Profits or proceeds: as, the avails of a sale by auction.
  • noun Returns.
  • See avale.
  • To have value or use; be of service or advantage; give profit: as, wealth avails little to a castaway.
  • To have force or efficacy; serve for a purpose; give aid toward an end: as, his cries availed to bring relief.
  • To take or draw advantage; make use or profit.
  • To be for the advantage of; assist or profit: as, what will skill avail us against numbers?
  • To promote; prosper; assist: said of things.
  • To advantage; profit; give the benefit to: used reflexively, with of: as, he availed himself of the opportunity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To turn to the advantage of; to be of service to; to profit; to benefit; to help.
  • transitive verb obsolete To promote; to assist.
  • transitive verb to make use of; take advantage of.
  • noun Profit; advantage toward success; benefit; value.
  • noun Proceeds.
  • intransitive verb To be of use or advantage; to answer the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object
  • verb obsolete See avale, v.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To turn to the advantage of
  • verb transitive To be of service to.
  • verb transitive To promote; to assist.
  • verb intransitive To be of use or advantage; to answer or serve the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object.
  • verb India, Africa To provide.
  • noun obsolete, poetic Effort; striving.
  • noun television, advertising An advertising slot or package.
  • noun US, politics, journalism A press avail.
  • noun UK, acting Non-binding notice of availability for work.
  • noun oil industry A readily available stock of oil.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb take or use
  • verb be of use to, be useful to
  • noun a means of serving
  • verb use to one's advantage

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English availen : a-, intensive pref. (from Latin ad-; see ad–) + Old French valoir, vail-, to be worth (from Latin valēre, to be strong; see wal- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English vailen ("to be of use"), from Old French valoir ("to be worth"), from Latin valeo ("to be strong").

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Examples

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  • Avail, as in “totes avail” meaning “totally available.”

    October 4, 2011