Jail

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

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.  [1913 Webster]
"This jail I count the house of liberty."  [1913 Webster]

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.

Jail, v. t. 

 To imprison.  T. Adams (1614).  [1913 Webster]
"[Bolts] that jail you from free life."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Jail, n. & v. (also gaol)
--n.
1 a place to which persons are committed by a court for detention.
2 confinement in a jail.
--v.tr. put in jail.

Etymology

ME gayole f. OF jaiole, jeole & ONF gaole f. Rmc dimin. of L cavea CAGE

THESAURUS

Jail

POW camp, bastille, beleaguer, beset, besiege, big house, black hole, blockade, bolt in, borstal, borstal institution, bound, box in, bridewell, brig, bucket, caboose, cage, calaboose, can, cast in prison, cell, chamber, chokey, clap in jail, clap up, clink, close in, college, compass, concentration camp, condemned cell, confine, constrain, contain, cooler, coop, coop in, coop up, cordon, cordon off, corral, death cell, death house, death row, detain, detention camp, encircle, enclose, encompass, enshrine, federal prison, fence in, forced-labor camp, freezer, gaol, guardhouse, guardroom, hedge in, hem in, hold captive, hold in captivity, hold prisoner, hoosegow, house in, house of correction, house of detention, immure, impound, imprison, incarcerate, include, industrial school, intern, internment camp, jailhouse, jug, keep, kennel, labor camp, leaguer, lock in, lock up, lockup, maximum-security prison, mew, mew up, minimum-security prison, nick, oubliette, pen, pen in, penal colony, penal institution, penal settlement, penitentiary, pocket, pokey, prison, prison camp, prisonhouse, quarantine, quod, rail in, reform school, reformatory, rock pile, send down, shrine, shut in, shut up, slammer, sponging house, stable, state prison, stir, stockade, surround, the hole, throw into jail, tollbooth, training school, wall in, wrap, yard, yard up

ROGET THESAURUS

Jail

Prison

N prison, prison house, jail, gaol, cage, coop, den, cell, stronghold, fortress, keep, donjon, dungeon, Bastille, oubliette, bridewell, house of correction, hulks, tollbooth, panopticon, penitentiary, guardroom, lockup, hold, round house, watch house, station house, sponging house, station, house of detention, black hole, pen, fold, pound, inclosure, isolation (exclusion), penal settlement, penal colony, bilboes, stocks, limbo, quod, calaboose, chauki, choky, thana, workhouse, Newgate, Fleet, Marshalsea, King's Bench, Queen's Bench, bond, bandage, irons, pinion, gyve, fetter, shackle, trammel, manacle, handcuff, straight jacket, strait jacket, strait-jacket, strait-waistcoat, hopples, vice, vise, yoke, collar, halter, harness, muzzle, gag, bit, brake, curb, snaffle, bridle, rein, reins, bearing rein, martingale, leading string, tether, picket, band, guy, chain, cord, cavesson, hackamore, headstall, jaquima, lines, ribbons, bolt, deadbolt, bar, lock, police lock, combination lock, padlock, rail, wall, stone wall, paling, palisade, fence, picket fence, barbed wire fence, Cyclone fence, stockade fence, chain-link fence, barrier, barricade, drag.