▪ I. jail, gaol, n.
(dʒeɪl)
Forms: α. 3–4 gayhol(e, 5 gayll(e, gaille, 5–7 gayole, gayl(e, gaile, 6 gaiell, gaill, 6–7 gaole, goale, 7–8 goal, 7– gaol. β. 4 iaiole, 4–7 iaile, iayle, 5 iayll, 6–7 iaole, 7–8 jayl, (7 jale), 7– jail. γ. 6 geyle, geayle, (gial), 7 geale.
[ME. had two types, from Northern or Norman Fr., and Central or Parisian Fr. respectively: 1) ME. gay(h)ole, -ol, gayll(e, gaill(e, gayl(e, gaile, a. ONF. gaiole, gayolle, gaole (mod. Picard gayole, Walloon gaioule); 2) ME. jaiole, jayle, jaile, jayll, a. OF. jaiole, jaole, jeole, geole, cage, prison, F. geôle prison (Besan{cced}on javiole cage for fowls) = obs. It. gaiola, Sp. gayola (also, from F., jaula cage, cell), Pg. gaiola cage:—Romanic and pop.Lat. *gaviōla (med.L. gabiola, 1229 in Brachet) for *caveola, dim. of cavea hollow, cavity, den, cage, coop: see cage. Of the two types, the Norman Fr. and ME. gaiole, gaole, came down to the 17th c. as gaile, and still remains as a written form in the archaic spelling gaol (chiefly due to statutory and official tradition); but this is obsolete in the spoken language, where the surviving word is jail, repr. Old Parisian Fr. and ME. jaiole, jaile. Hence though both forms gaol, jail, are still written, only the latter is spoken. In U.S. jail is the official spelling. It is difficult to say whether the form goal(e, common, alike in official and general use, from the 16th to the 18th c., was merely an erroneous spelling of gaol, after this had itself become an archaism, or was phonetic: cf. mod.F. geôle (ʒol).
1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 6 Some again are..boring their very Noses with hot Irons, in rage that they cannot come to a Resolution, whether they shall say Face or Visage; whether they shall say Jayl or Gaol; whether Cony or Cunny.]
1. a. A place or building for the confinement of persons accused or convicted of a crime or offence; a prison. Now, a public building for the detention of persons committed by process of law.
| α c 1275 11 Pains Hell 219 in O.E. Misc. 153 In helle is a deop gayhol. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 187/105 Heo setten him in a swyþe deork put, þat in þe gayhole was. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1970 To my Gayhol goþ anon & þe fyue þat buþ þer Bryngeþ hem out euerechon. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 17, I wille the presoneres in the Gayle haue o day brede, mete, and drynkke, and eche persone jd. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 380 The duke of Burgoyne..w{supt} the prouost of Paris, came vnto the Gayole, and there receyued the sayd Peter. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 170 b, He was committed to the gayle of Newgate. 1572 Act 14 Eliz. c. 5 §38 To such sufficient persons dwellinge nighe the said Goales. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. §51 To be committed to the Common Goal of Colchester. 1689 Wonderful Predict. Nostradamus 3, Beer shall fail The Great one Cold, and famish't in a Gaol. 1779 J. Burgoyne Let. to Constituents (ed. 3) 15 The goals..were resorted to for other recruits. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 497 At that period the gaols were..depositories of pestilence. 1848 Act 11 & 12 Vict. c. 42 §21 To remand the party accused..to the common gaol or house of correction, or other prison, lock-up house, or place of security in the county. |
| β a 1300 Cursor M. 13174 (Cott.) A sargant sent he to Iaiole [Laud MS. Iayle] And iohan hefd comanded to cole. a 1400–50 Alexander 4321 Nouthire Iugement ne Iayll ne Iustice of aire. c 1440 Generydes 1572 Generydes was brought out of the Iayle. 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 42 He was sent to the iaole and examined vpon interrogatories. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. i. 95 Call forth an officer: Carrie this mad knaue to the Iaile. 1674 Milton Samson 949 This jail I count the house of liberty. 1743–5 R. Pococke Trav. (1756) II. 184 The jayl was in the gatehouse adjoyning. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 352 A dollar in a university is worth more than a dollar in a jail. |
| γ 1688 W. Fleming in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. vii. (1890) 224 Hee will get noe body to undertake the geale nor under gealership. |
b. Without the article, as in the phrases ‘to send to jail’, ‘in jail’, ‘let out of jail’:
= imprisonment, confinement in prison.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 77 O damysel worthily born And to oft me semyth distressyd in gayle. 1593 Queen Elizabeth Boeth. iv. pr. v. 89 Geayle, lawe, and other tormentes for due punishment..pertayne to wicked Citizens. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 620/1 Committed to goale. 1732 Law Serious C. xiii. (ed. 2) 216 To redeem a prisoner out of Jayl. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. i. 8 Having been sent to gaol by him twice. |
c. transf. and
fig. Place of confinement.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 4745 A swete helle it [love] is..A plesaunt gayl and esy prisoun. 1591 Spenser Ruines of Time 296 His happie soule to heaven went Out of this fleshlie gaole. 1593 Queen Elizabeth Boeth. ii. pr. vii. 39 If the mynde..dissolued from earthly gial, all freed seekes heauen. 1635 Heywood Hierarch. vi. 356 Each one his gaile About him had, beeing fastned to a beame. 1764 Grainger Sugar Cane ii. 214 Small eggs appear..alas, too soon They burst their filmy gaol, and crawl abroad. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
jail-fee,
jail-gang,
jail-gate,
jail-guard,
jail-keeper,
jail-mate,
jail-official,
jail-rat,
jail-room,
jail-spy,
jail-yard;
jail-bleached,
jail-like adjs.;
jail-bait slang (
orig. U.S.), a girl who is under the legal age of consent;
jail-break orig. U.S., the act of escaping from a jail;
† jail damp, the noxious exhalation formerly common in jails;
jail distemper = jail-fever;
jail-house (
U.S.), a jail;
jail money, money paid for the maintenance of a jail.
| 1934 J. T. Farrell Calico Shoes 48 She's not hard on the eyes but she's *jail bait. 1957 J. Braine Room at Top xxiv. 198 I'm not interested in little girls. Particularly not in jail-bait like that one. 1972 A. Draper Death Penalty vi. 45 She looks young enough to be jail bait. |
| 1871 Hay Pike County Ball. (1880) 33 Shadowed by his *jail-bleached hair. |
| 1910 J. Hart Vigilante Girl xix. 266 Hamlin did not yet know of the *jail-break. 1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden 440 Not with her holding that jail-break over him. 1973 E. Hyams Final Agenda ii. 24 He..led a jail-break of seventeen political prisoners. |
| 1636 in Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) II. 244 That *goal-damp of Hereford hath already killed a great many that were at the last assizes. |
| 1745 Reid in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 228 Two Convicts in Newgate..very ill of the putrid, infectious, malignant Fever, commonly call'd the *Gaol Distemper. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 90 A new and enlarged edition of Dr. J. C. Smyth's work on the jail-distemper..is nearly ready. |
| a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 271 They would not..pay their fines set on them, [not] so much as the *jayl fees. |
| 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 321 A single magistrate can..sentence..to the *jail gang or tread-mill. |
| 1623 Drummond of Hawthornden Cypress Grove Wks. (1711) 123 When the *jail-gates were broken up. |
| 1626 Bernard Isle of Man (1627) 82 The Chiefe-Gaoler is..made the *Gaole-keeper by the Sheriffe. a 1743 Savage Love in Veil iii. i, Can it..fail to tempt such fellows as jail-keepers to be perfidious to their trust? |
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. xv, With a *jail-like upper rim of iron and spikes. |
| 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 298 The prisoners would never be able to know who their *jailmates were. |
| 1600 Stanford Churchw. Acc. in Antiquary (1888) May 212 To the Constable of the hundred for *gayole money..ijs. vj{supd}. |
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. iii, Thou gallows-bird—thou *jail-rat—thou friend of the hangman. |
| a 1683 Oldham Poems (1698) 197 (Jod.) The Town can scarce afford them *jail-room now. |
| 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 625 The suffering people of Lancashire..were driven by hundreds into jails and *jail-yards. |
▪ II. jail, gaol, v. (
dʒeɪl)
Forms: see
jail n. [f. prec.] trans. To confine in or as in a jail; to imprison, confine.
| α 1622 Bacon Hen. VII 215 The Dislike the Parliament had of Gaoling of them. 1635 Heywood Hierarch. ix. 569 Unwilling To be so goald [they] struggle. 1718 Entertainer No. 41. 280 A Design to imprison and Gaol him for Life. 1887 Times 29 Aug. 4/5 Several of whom..have been gaoled for their share in the knavery. |
| β 1604 T. Wright Passions vi. 324 They..enforce him as a iudge, like prisoners, to iayle them by iustice. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Pet. ii. 22 The other are jailed up in the dark..dungeon of hell. 1787 Hist. Pelham, Mass. (1898) 375 Day, Colton, Clark and Brown, jailed—the others not found. 1875 Tennyson Q. Mary iii. v, One, whose bolts, That jail you from free life, bar you from death. 1889 C. King Queen of Bedlam 265 The scoundrel had a wife in Denver, where he was finally tracked and jailed. |
Hence
ˈjailing,
ˈgaoling vbl. n. and ppl. a.| 1622 [see above]. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. iv. (1721) 213 Content to..do the Priests Drudgery in Gaoling and Burning. 1862 C. J. Vaughan Bk. & Life 40 Not the jailing of the evil nature, but rather the exercising of the good, is the true aim and work of youthful discipline. 1869 Tennyson Pelleas & Ettarre 336, I will..tame thy jailing princess to thine hand. |