Definition of "gavel" in English

noun

1. (historical) Rent.

2. (obsolete) Usury; interest on money.

3. (historical) An old Saxon and Welsh form of tenure by which an estate passed, on the holder's death, to all the sons equally; also called gavelkind.

verb

1. (transitive) To divide or distribute according to the gavel system.

noun

1. A wooden mallet, used by a courtroom judge, or by a committee chairman, struck against a sounding block to quieten those present, or by an auctioneer to accept the highest bid at auction.

2. (metonymic, chiefly US) The beginning or end of legal proceedings.

3. (metonymic, chiefly US) The legal system as a whole.

4. A mason's setting maul.

verb

1. To use a gavel.

2. To begin or end legal proceedings

   • The judge gavelled for order in the courtroom after the defendant burst out with a confession.

noun

1. A small heap of grain, not tied up into a bundle.

noun

1. (Scotland, archaic, architecture) A gable.