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jail
[ jeyl ]
noun
- a prison, especially one for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of minor offenses.
verb (used with object)
- to take into or hold in lawful custody; imprison.
jail
/ dʒeɪl /
noun
- a place for the confinement of persons convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or of persons awaiting trial to whom bail is not granted
- get out of jail informal.get out of jailget out of jail free to get out of a difficult situation
verb
- tr to confine in prison
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Derived Forms
- ˈjail-like, adjective
- ˈjailless, adjective
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Other Words From
- jaila·ble adjective
- jailless adjective
- jaillike adjective
- non·jaila·ble adjective
- re·jail verb (used with object)
- un·jailed adjective
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of jail1
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Example Sentences
Another was accused in a lawsuit of threatening to jail women if they didn’t have sex with him.
Maybe only a federal effort to establish standards and regulate compliance to them would be necessary before we no longer have a Robert Williams, a member of any minority group, or any citizen unjustly experience a night in jail or worse.
DHS agents in Portland have tear-gassed protesters and pulled individuals into unmarked vans, and some of those people were banned from attending any more protests as a condition of being released from jail.
Anyone who violated the law would be subject to a fine of $100-$500 – the equivalent of $1,700-$8,500 today – or a jail term of up to 150 days.
The officers then proceeded to grab his groceries, dump them to the ground, put him in handcuffs and take him to jail, where he’d spend the night for the crime of occupying multiple seats on a transit facility.
As this list shows, punishments typically run to a short-ish jail sentence and/or a moderately hefty fine.
Violators face up to nine months in jail or as much as $10,000 in fines.
There are millions of stories that end with black boys in jail cells.
Brinsley got out of jail last July, and was desperate and aimless.
Some of them, including Kurnosova, escaped the country as they faced a possible jail term for their opposition activity.
Why have I never heard until the day before yesterday of your suffering yourself to be cooped up in jail?
They say that if he gets a judgment against you, Elder, he will put you in jail, and all that; but of course that couldn't be.
Casey was arrested and conveyed to jail under great popular excitement.
For these people, under the older dispensation, there was nothing but the poorhouse, the jail or starvation by the roadside.
On the Mabolo road there is a Leper Hospital, and the ruins of a partly well-built jail which was never completed.
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More About Jail
What is a basic definition of jail?
A jail is a building that houses prisoners and people accused of crimes, especially minor crimes. Jail also means to imprison for committing a crime or to lawfully detain a person.
A jail is a building where criminals or people accused of crimes are housed. Jails are usually small buildings that keep prisoners only until they go to trial or for criminals with short punishments. Typically, a prisoner only spends around 90 days in a jail. A person accused of a more serious crime may be kept in a jail until their trial or until they are transferred to a larger facility. The phrase “in jail” often means a person is spending time in a jail. A person who manages a jail or puts a person in a jail is called a jailer.
- Real-life examples: In the United States, jails are usually managed at the local level, such as by a town or county. A person who commits a minor offense such as being drunk in public or trespassing may be sentenced to spend time in a county jail.
- Used in a sentence: After a wild night, the partygoers woke up the next morning in the city jail.
As a verb, jail means to imprison a person for a crime as allowed under the law. This sense specifically refers to legal imprisonment, usually by police officers, rather than by kidnapping or abduction.
- Real-life examples: If a person is arrested by police, they are usually jailed until they are taken to trial. Depending on the judge’s ruling, they may be jailed again as punishment for a crime.
- Used in a sentence: The police quickly jailed the men who were caught trying to steal a car.
Jail can easily be confused for prison, and the two are often used interchangeably when referring to lawful imprisonment in general.
In the United States, a prison is managed by a state or the federal government and typically holds prisoners convicted of serious crimes who have very long sentences. Prisons are larger, usually better funded, and have much tighter security than jails. Prison can also be used more generally to refer to any place a person is confined, like a basement or in your own head. Jail is specifically a place for prisoners or people accused of crimes.
Gaol is a variant spelling of jail used mostly in British English.
Where does jail come from?
The first records of jail come from the 1200s. It ultimately comes from the Vulgar Latin caveola, from the Latin cavea, meaning “cage” or “enclosure.”
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What are some other forms related to jail?
- gaol (alternative spelling)
- jailable (adjective)
- jailless (adjective)
- jaillike (adjective)
- nonjailable (adjective)
What are some synonyms for jail?
What are some words that share a root or word element with jail?
What are some words that often get used in discussing jail?
What are some words jail may be commonly confused with?
How is jail used in real life?
Jail commonly refers to a place that police keep prisoners or people awaiting trial.
The true definition of embarrassment is when you work at a jail and have 3 of your family members arrested in the same week 😅
— Jo (@jlhorton7897) November 20, 2020
NEW: Ghislaine Maxwell to offer $28.5 million bond in effort to get out of jail. https://t.co/ZXEBXb8Hfb
— ABC News (@ABC) December 11, 2020
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True or False?
A jail is a building that houses people who are lawfully imprisoned.
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