Jail (?), n. [OE. jaile, gail, gayhol, OF. gaole, gaiole, jaiole, F. geôle, 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.]
This jail I count the house of liberty. Milton.
Jail bird, a prisoner; one who has been confined in prison. — 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, orJail 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.