a prison, especially one for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of minor offenses.
verb (used with object)
to take into or hold in lawful custody; imprison.
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Also British, gaol .
Origin of jail
1225–75; Middle English gaiole, jaiole, jaile<Old North French gaiole,Old French jaiole cage <Vulgar Latin *gaviola, variant of *caveola, diminutive of Latin caveacage; see -ole1
Another was accused in a lawsuit of threatening to jail women if they didn’t have sex with him.
Sacramento Report: Jones, COVID-19 and the Irony of Remote Voting|Sara Libby and Jesse Marx|August 28, 2020|Voice of San Diego
Maybe only a federal effort to establish standards and regulate compliance to them would be necessary before we no longer have a Robert Williams, a member of any minority group, or any citizen unjustly experience a night in jail or worse.
The Bias in the Machine - Issue 89: The Dark Side|Sidney Perkowitz|August 19, 2020|Nautilus
DHS agents in Portland have tear-gassed protesters and pulled individuals into unmarked vans, and some of those people were banned from attending any more protests as a condition of being released from jail.
What Happened In Portland Shows Just How Fragile Our Democracy Is|Maggie Koerth (maggie.koerth-baker@fivethirtyeight.com)|August 5, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Anyone who violated the law would be subject to a fine of $100-$500 – the equivalent of $1,700-$8,500 today – or a jail term of up to 150 days.
‘Keep Your Mouth Shut’: Why San Diego Banned ‘Seditious’ Talk in 1918|Randy Dotinga|August 4, 2020|Voice of San Diego
The officers then proceeded to grab his groceries, dump them to the ground, put him in handcuffs and take him to jail, where he’d spend the night for the crime of occupying multiple seats on a transit facility.
The Next Major Reform Prosecutor Could Well Be a ‘Survivor’|Joshua Eferighe|August 4, 2020|Ozy
Violators face up to nine months in jail or as much as $10,000 in fines.
Judge: Rehoming Kids Is Trafficking|Tina Traster|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Brinsley got out of jail last July, and was desperate and aimless.
Alleged Cop Killer Ismaaiyl Brinsley Had a Death Wish|M.L. Nestel|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The only physician she was permitted to see was the jail doctor.
States Slap Pregnant Women With Harsher Jail Sentences|Emily Shire|December 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Even if her clients are convicted—and she does have many now in jail—she at least brings attention to their cases.
The Straight Hero of Cameroon’s Gays|Jay Michaelson|December 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But in jail, I was told that my online statements about religion and Islam were illegal.
What It’s Like to Be an Atheist in Palestine|Waleed al-Husseini, Movements.Org|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I'll end up in one, most like, if they don't put me in jail first.
One Man's Initiation--1917|John Dos Passos
His lips were tight pressed, his eyes hard, as he rode by the jail again and out into the county road.
The Short Cut|Jackson Gregory
He was taken to jail, and the news soon spread that he was an ex-convict and horse-thief.
The Twin Hells|John N. Reynolds
Will you describe the place where he was kept while he was there in the jail?
Warren Commission (4 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
That jail was standing when I come to Arkansas forty-seven years ago.
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States|Work Projects Administration
British Dictionary definitions for jail
jail
gaol
/ (dʒeɪl) /
noun
a place for the confinement of persons convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or of persons awaiting trial to whom bail is not granted
get out of jailorget out of jail freeinformalto get out of a difficult situation
C13: from Old French jaiole cage, from Vulgar Latin caveola (unattested), from Latin cavea enclosure; see cage : the two spellings derive from the forms of the word that developed in two different areas of France, and the spelling gaol represents a pronunciation in use until the 17th century