[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

gaol \gaol\ j=al, n. see jail.
   a place of confinement, especially for minor offenses or
   provisional imprisonment; a jail. preferably, and in the
   united states usually, written jail.
   1913 webster

   commission of general gaol delivery, an authority conferred
      upon judges and others included in it, for trying and
      delivering every prisoner in jail when the judges, upon
      their circuit, arrive at the place for holding court, and
      for discharging any whom the grand jury fail to indict.
      eng.

   gaol delivery. law see jail delivery, under jail.
      1913 webster
see also:
jail jail commission of general gaol delivery gaol delivery jail delivery 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

jail \jail\, v. t.
   to imprison. r. --t. adams 1614.
   1913 webster

         bolts that jail you from free life.    --tennyson.
   1913 webster jailbird

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

jail \jail\ j=al, n. oe. jaile, gail, gayhol, of. gaole,
   gaiole, jaiole, f. ge^ole, 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.
   1913 webster

         this jail i count the house of liberty.  --milton.
   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.
      1913 webster
see also:
cage gaol jail delivery jail delivery commission gaol jail fever 
hospital fever ship fever jail liberties jail limits jail lock 
scandinavian lock 

[4] : WordNet (r) 2.0

jail
     n : a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in
         the lawful custody of the government either accused
         persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a
         sentence syn: jailhouse, gaol, clink, slammer
     v : lock up or confine, in or as in a jail; "the suspects were
         imprisoned without trial"; "the murderer was incarcerated
         for the rest of his life" syn: imprison, incarcerate,
          lag, immure, put behind bars, jug, gaol, put
         away, remand
see also:
jailhouse gaol clink slammer imprison incarcerate 
lag immure put behind bars jug put away 
remand 

[5] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

126 moby thesaurus words for "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

[6] : Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

jail. a prison; a place appointed by law for the detention of prisoners. a 
jail is an inhabited dwelling-house within the statute of new york, which 
makes the malicious burning of an inhabited dwelling-house to be arson. 8 
john. 115; see 4 call, 109. vide gaol; prison. 

Jail >> J Words
Jail, definition of term: Jail
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Jail Bird >> J Words
Jail Bird, definition of term: Jail Bird
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