Jail , v. t. To imprison. [R.]
T. Adams (1614).
[Bolts] that jail you from free
life.
Tennyson.
Jail (?), n. [OE.
jaile, gail, gayhol, OF.
gaole, gaiole, jaiole, F. geôle, LL. gabiola, dim. of gabia cage, for L.
cavea cavity, cage. See Cage.]
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. [Written also gaol.]
This
jail I count the house of liberty.
Milton. Jail bird, a prisoner; one who has been confined in prison. [Slang] -- Jail delivery, the release of prisoners from jail, either legally or by
violence. -- Jail
delivery commission. See under Gaol. -- Jail fever (Med.),
typhus fever, or a disease
resembling it, generated in jails
and other places crowded with people; -- called also hospital fever, and ship fever. -- Jail liberties, or Jail limits, a space or district around a jail within
which an imprisoned debtor was, on certain conditions, allowed to go at large. Abbott. -- Jail lock, a peculiar form of padlock; -- called also Scandinavian lock.
Hear it pronounced