Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Gaol

Gaol

(jāl)
,
Noun.
[See
Jail
.]
A place of confinement, especially for minor offenses or provisional imprisonment; a jail.
[Preferably, and in the United States usually, written
jail
.]
Commission of general gaol delivery
,
an authority conferred upon judges and others included in it, for trying and delivering every prisoner in jail when the judges, upon their circuit, arrive at the place for holding court, and for discharging any whom the grand jury fail to indict.
[Eng.]
Gaol delivery
.
(Law)
See
Jail delivery
, under
Jail
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Gaol

GAOL

,
Noun.
A prison; a place for the confinement of debtors and criminals.

GAOL

,
Verb.
T.
To imprison; to confine in prison.

Definition 2024


gaol

gaol

English

The old Melbourne gaol

Noun

gaol (plural gaols)

  1. (Britain, Ireland, Australia) Alternative spelling of jail
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess:
      ‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’

Usage notes

Gaol was the more common spelling between about 1760 and 1830,[1] and is still preferred in proper names in some regions. Most Australian newspapers use jail rather than gaol, citing either narrower print width or the possibility of transposing letters in gaol to produce goal.[2]

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:jail

Verb

gaol (third-person singular simple present gaols, present participle gaoling, simple past and past participle gaoled)

  1. (Britain) Alternative spelling of jail

Translations

Derived terms

References

  1. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=gaol%2Cjail&year_start=1700&year_end=2000&corpus=15
  2. 1996, Sally A. White, Reporting in Australia, page 275

Anagrams


Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish gáel (relationship), from Proto-Celtic *gaylo- (compare Lithuanian gailùs (compassionate), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gailjan, gladden), German geil (wanton)).

Pronunciation

Noun

gaol m (genitive singular gaoil, nominative plural gaolta)

  1. relationship, kinship; kindred feeling
  2. relation, kin; relative
  3. relation between things, connection

Declension

Derived terms

  • salachar gaoil (distant relationship)
  • neasghaol (next of kin)
  • gaolmhar (associated; relative, related; cognate)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
gaol ghaol ngaol
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish gáel (relationship), from Proto-Celtic *gaylo-; compare Lithuanian gailùs (compassionate); Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gailjan, gladden), German geil (wanton).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɯːɫ̪/

Noun

gaol m (genitive singular gaoil, plural gaoil)

  1. love, affection
    Tha gaol agam ort. ― I love you. (literally "is love at me on you")
    Ghabh i trom ghaol air. ― She fell madly in love with him.

Declension

Bare forms

Case Singular Plural
Nominative gaol gaoil
Dative gaol gaoil
Genitive gaoil gaol
Vocative a ghaoil a ghaola

Forms with the definite article

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an gaol na gaoil
Dative a' ghaol na gaoil
Genitive a' ghaoil nan gaol

Usage notes

The love expressed by gaol is more intimate in nature than that of gràdh.

Derived terms

References