Definition of "jail" in English

noun

1. A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.

   • serve time in jail
   • released from jail
   • jail sentence
   • He was sent to jail for theft.
   • She visited her brother in jail.

2. (uncountable) Confinement in a jail.

3. (horse racing, uncountable) The condition created by the requirement that a horse claimed in a claiming race not be run at another track for some period of time (usually 30 days).

4. In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.

5. (computing, FreeBSD, usually uncountable) A kind of sandbox for running a guest operating system instance.

verb

1. To imprison.