Gaol
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Dated spelling of jail. British, countable, uncountable
"There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning – he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way —"
- 2 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) wordnet
- 1 Dated spelling of jail. British
- 2 lock up or confine, in or as in a jail wordnet
Example
More examples"Tyrannical governments frequently gaol their political opponents."
Etymology
From Middle English gayole, gaiol, gaylle, gaille, gayle, gaile, via Old French gaiole, gayolle, gaole, from Medieval Latin gabiola, for Late Latin caveola, a diminutive of Latin cavea (“cavity, coop, cage”). See also cage.
Related phrases
More for "gaol"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.