avail

Pluralavails (some meanings)

Formsavails, availing, availed

1. 1
   no resultnoununcountable

   Usefulness or effect in achieving an aim or purpose, now usually in negative constructions.

   Rescue teams searched the flooded valley for two days, to no avail.

   Her warnings were of little avail once the crowd started to panic.

   Similareffect, use, help, benefit

   Note

   The noun now lives in a few negative phrases that divide the work. To no avail reports an effort that failed, and it can stand alone as a flat verdict: The team pushed for an equalizer. To no avail. Of little avail and not of much avail judge a means instead, such as labor without economy or a nail filed sharp for an arrowhead.

2. 2
   make use ofverbreflexivetransitive

   To use something to one's own advantage, often in the reflexive construction avail oneself of.

   Hotel guests may avail themselves of the rooftop pool until 10 p.m.

   Few tenants availed themselves of the free legal advice the city offered.

   Note

   A reflexive verb in practice: the pronoun matches the subject (I availed myself, she availed herself), and of introduces what is used. In a relative clause the of is left at the end, as in protocols she never availed herself of, and that reads naturally. Without the pronoun and the of, the verb becomes a regional usage.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To be of use or advantage, to serve the purpose, or to have enough force or effect to accomplish what is intended.

   Only swift surgery could avail to save the climber's leg.

   Neither threats nor bribes availed, and the witness kept silent.

   Similarwork, succeed, help, serve

   Oppositefail

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To be of service or help to someone.

   No clever excuse will avail you in front of the review board.

   His years of experience availed him nothing once the company changed hands.

   Similarhelp, benefit, serve

5. 5
   free (informal)adjectivecolloquialabbreviationclipping

   Clipping of available.

   Let me know when you're avail for a quick call.

   Sorry, the room isn't avail until Thursday, so can we push the meeting?

   Note

   Casual speech shortens available to avail, and the short form keeps the full word's everyday senses: free to meet or take a call, and able to be had or used. Spell out available in formal writing; avail on its own already serves as a verb and as the noun of to no avail, and readers may take the short adjective for one of them.

6. 6
   get (a service)verbAfricaIndiatransitive

   To provide something or make it available, or to use or take advantage of an opportunity or resource.

   Senior citizens can avail a fifty per cent concession on railway tickets.

   The microfinance bank has availed loans to over two thousand market traders in Lagos.

   Similarprovide, use

   Note

   Indian and African English use the verb with a direct object, and it faces both ways: a bank avails cash to its cardholders, and patients avail a service from government facilities. Elsewhere the construction is proscribed, so for a wider readership write avail yourself of the service, or choose use, offer or provide.

7. 7
   press meetingnounUScountable

   A press availability: a session at which a politician or official takes questions from reporters.

   The campaign squeezed a ten-minute avail into the schedule before the rally.

   At Tuesday's avail, the governor refused to answer questions about the budget.

   Similarbriefing

   Note

   Campaigns and newsrooms use the word for a looser event than a press conference: there may be no podium or prepared statement, only a few minutes for reporters' questions. A campaign holds or schedules an avail, and reporters cover it; the shorthand is American.

8. 8
   ad slotnouncountable

   A slot for a commercial in a broadcast schedule, or a package of commercial slots offered to an advertiser.

   The sales rep sent the car dealer an avail of twenty spots during weekend sports.

   The system inserts a local commercial automatically whenever the network feed reaches an avail.

   Note

   Television uses the word on both sides of the business. To a station's sales staff an avail is an offer of unsold time, so many spots in the early news and so many in the late; to cable engineers it is the point in the network feed where the ad server plays out a commercial.

9. 9
   casting noticenounBritishcountable

   A non-binding notice that a performer is available for work.

   The casting director asked three agents for avails for the second week of June.

   An avail commits nobody, so he kept auditioning for other parts.

   Note

   British casting offices use the word at the earliest stage of hiring, before anything is signed. An avail lets a production plan around a performer's free dates, but neither side is held to it until a firm booking replaces it.

10. 10
    business profitsnounUScountable or uncountable

    Proceeds, or the profits made from business transactions.

    Under the will, the avails of the house sale were divided among the three children.

    The lawsuit turned on who was entitled to the avails of the partnership's last contracts.

    Similarproceeds, profits, earnings

    Note

    The plural carries this sense: the avails of a sale, of an estate, of their own industry. The use was once more widespread but now survives only in American English, so proceeds or profits is the safer word for readers elsewhere.

11. 11
    oil supplynounusually plural

    A stock of oil that is readily available.

    Refiners that pump their own crude still buy cargoes to top up their avails.

    Gulf Coast crude avails tightened after two tankers were delayed by the storm.

    Note

    In the oil trade the word counts everything a refiner has to work with: the crude it produces plus the crude it buys. That total can run well above what its refineries actually take in, so avails and refinery inputs are separate figures.

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