jail Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun 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)
    slammer; pokey; gaol; jailhouse; clink; poky.
  2. verb lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
    incarcerate; jug; remand; lag; immure; gaol; put away; imprison; put behind bars.
    • The suspects were imprisoned without trial
    • the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life

WordNet

Jail noun
Etymology
OE. jaile, gail, gayhol, OF. gaole, gaiole, jaiole, F. geôle, LL. gabiola, dim. of gabia cage, for L. cavea cavity, cage. See Cage.
Definitions
  1. 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 transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To imprison. R. T. Adams (1614).
    [Bolts] that jail you from free life. Tennyson.

Webster 1913