Jail n. A kind of prison; a building for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody, especially for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding. [Written also gaol.]
This jail I count the house of liberty. --Milton.
Jail delivery, the release of prisoners from jail, either legally or by violence.
Jail delivery commission. See under Gaol.
Jail fever Med., typhus fever, or a disease resembling it, generated in jails and other places crowded with people; -- called also hospital fever, and ship fever.
Jail liberties, or Jail limits, a space or district around a jail within which an imprisoned debtor was, on certain conditions, allowed to go at large. --Abbott.
Jail lock, a peculiar form of padlock; -- called also Scandinavian lock.