gaol

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

gaol

/d͡ʒeɪl/

Rhymes with -eɪl

Where it comes from

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.

noun gaols

UK, countable, uncountable Dated spelling of jail. 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

verb gaols · gaoling · gaoled

UK Dated spelling of jail.

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"gaol." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gaol. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gaol. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gaol

Chicago

"gaol." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gaol.

BibTeX

@misc{gaol_2026,
  title = {gaol},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gaol},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}