gaol

From Middle English gayole, Middle English gajol, gaylle, gaille, gayle, gaile, via Old French gaiole, gayolle, gaole, from Medieval Latin gabiola, for Vulgar Latin *caveola, a diminutive of Latin cavea (“cavity, coop, cage”). See also cage.

• IPA^(key): /dʒeɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl

gaol (plural gaols)

1. (Commonwealth of Nations) jail
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess‎:

     ‘[…] 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—’

   • 2000, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 26:

     Sirius had been in Azkaban, the terrifying wizard gaol guarded by creatures called Dementors

Gaol was the more common spelling between about 1760 and 1830,[1] and is still preferred in proper names in some regions. Most Australian newspapers use jail rather than gaol, citing either narrower print width or the possibility of transposing letters in gaol to produce goal.[2] By far the most common spelling in Canada is jail, but a handful of legal writers use gaol; see for example , para. 26.

• See also Thesaurus:jail

gaol (third-person singular simple present gaols, present participle gaoling, simple past and past participle gaoled)

1. (Commonwealth of Nations, dated) Alternative spelling of jail

• engaol
• gaoler

• Galo, Gola, Lago, Olga, algo, algo-, goal

From Old Irish gáel (“relationship”), from Proto-Celtic *gaylo- (compare Lithuanian gailùs (“compassionate”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gailjan, “gladden”), German geil (“wanton”)).

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ɡeːl̪ˠ/
• (Connacht, Ulster) IPA^(key): /ɡiːlˠ/

gaol m (genitive singular gaoil, nominative plural gaolta)

1. relationship, kinship; kindred feeling
2. relation, kin; relative
3. relation between things, connection

• salachar gaoil (“distant relationship”)
• neasghaol (“next of kin”)
• gaolmhar (“associated; relative, related; cognate”)

From Old Irish gáel (“relationship”), from Proto-Celtic *gaylo-; compare Lithuanian gailùs (“compassionate”); Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gailjan, “gladden”), German geil (“wanton”).

• IPA^(key): /kɯːɫ̪/

gaol m (genitive singular gaoil, plural gaoil)

1. love, affection

   Tha gaol agam ort. ― I love you.

   (literally "is love at me on you")

   Ghabh i trom ghaol air. ― She fell madly in love with him.

Bare forms

Forms with the definite article

The love expressed by gaol is more intimate in nature than that of gràdh.

• gabh gaol air
• tha gaol agam ort

• Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Alexander MacBain, Eneas Mackay, 1911