rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryjailLegal confinement
noun / verb

jail

JAYL/dʒeɪl/

A place where people are held in legal custody, or the act of putting someone there.

Barred cell doors line a secure corridor in the jail.

A plain secure jail corridor with barred cell doors, no inmates shown.
Etymology
jailLatinsmall cage

The ancestor meant a small cage. The connection to a prison is enclosure: a structure that keeps its occupants confined became a name for a place of legal custody.

In context

Biography47:08
my twenties and a little bit of my thirties, I spent in jail. It's definitely, like, a recruitment center, the prison system. I had a 10 year sentence
The Fall of the American Mafia (S1, E3) | American Godfathers: The Five Families | Full Episode

More examples

  • He spent the night in jail.
  • The court jailed the offender for six months.
  • Several county jails offered education programs.

Forms

jail · jails · jailed · jailing

Similar words

prison
Usually holds people serving longer sentences after conviction.
detain
Keeps people in custody without necessarily placing them in jail.