# jail

Pronunciation: US say "JAYL" /d͡ʒeɪ(ə)l/; UK

## Noun

1. A place or institution where people are held against their will in lawful custody; in US usage, especially one for minor offenses or for people awaiting a court hearing or trial.
   - Simple: A place where people are locked up by law, in the US often before trial or for small crimes.
   - _The county jail was overcrowded with people awaiting trial._
   - _He was booked into the city jail on a minor charge._
2. The condition of being held as a prisoner in a jail.
   - Simple: The state of being kept locked up in a jail.
   - _Repeat offenders in this state often face jail rather than a fine._
   - _She avoided jail by agreeing to community service._
4. In dodgeball and similar games, the marked area where players sent out after being hit by the ball must wait.
   - Simple: In dodgeball, the spot where players go after they are hit by the ball.
   - _Three players were stuck in jail waiting for a catch to free them._
   - _He sprinted back from jail the moment his teammate made the catch._

## Verb

3. To confine someone in a jail as a prisoner; to imprison.
   - Simple: To put a person in a jail as a prisoner.
   - _Authorities can jail protesters who refuse to disperse._
   - _The regime jailed thousands of dissidents during the crackdown._

## Other meanings

- (noun) An isolated section of an operating system, as in FreeBSD, in which programs run walled off from the rest of the system while sharing its kernel.
- (noun) In claiming races, the period (typically thirty days) during which a newly claimed horse is barred from running at any other track.

## Origin

It comes from Middle English gayole, from Old French gaiole, from Medieval Latin gabiola and Late Latin caveola ("little cage"), a diminutive of Latin cavea ("cavity, coop, cage"). It is a doublet of caveola and related to "cage".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/jail (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).