gaol

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.

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒeɪ(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl

gaol (countable and uncountable, plural gaols)

1. (Commonwealth) Dated spelling of jail.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Miss Thyrza’s Chair”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 42:

     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 July 8, J. K. Rowling [pseudonym; Joanne Rowling], “The Scar”, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter; 4), London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 26:

     There was a simple reason for Sirius' complete absence from Harry's life until then – Sirius had been in Azkaban, the terrifying wizard gaol guarded by creatures called Dementors, […]

• See also Thesaurus:jail

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

1. (Commonwealth) Dated spelling of jail.

In British English, gaol was the more common published spelling between approximately 1730 and 1960,^[1] and is still preferred in proper names in some regions. Most Australian newspapers use jail, 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 [1], para. 26.

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

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

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ɡeːl̪ˠ/, [ɡëːə̯l̪ˠ]^[1]
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /ɡiːlˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ɡiːlˠ/, (older) /ɡɯːlˠ/

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”)

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “gaol”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

From Middle Irish gáel (“relationship”). Cognate with Irish gaol.

• IPA^(key): /kɯːl̪ˠ/
• (Lewis) IPA^(key): [kɯ̞ːl̪ˠ]^[1]
• Hyphenation: gaol

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.

2. love (object of love)
   • “Gaol ise Gaol i [My love is she]”‎^[2]:

     Gaol ise gaol i.

     She is my love.

     (literally, “Love she love her.”)

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

• MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “gaol”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎^[3], Stirling, →ISBN
• Mark, Colin (2003) “gaol”, in The Gaelic–English dictionary, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 324

gaol

1. banana

• Warneck, J. (1906). Tobabataksch-Deutsches Wörterbuch. Batavia: Landsdrukkerij, p. 70.