English▸ noun a place for the confinement of people accused or convicted of a crime:
he served 15 months in jail
[as modifier] a jail sentence.
▸ verb [with object] (usually be jailed) put (someone) in jail:
the driver was jailed for two years.
– ORIGIN Middle English : based on Latin cavea (see cage). The word came into English in two forms, jaiole from Old French and gayole from Anglo-Norman French gaole (surviving in the spelling gaol), originally pronounced with a hard g, as in goat.