noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ˈeɪ(ə)l/
rhymes with -eɪl
homophone: ail
homophone: ale
1
noun
Meaning 1
A grandfather.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
Examples
The Writ of Ayle was an ancient English writ which lay against a stranger who had dispossessed the demandant of land of which his grandfather died seized.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A legal writ under which a grandchild can legally remove a stranger from land belonging to the grandchild's grandfather, which the stranger had seized upon the grandfather's death.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
Topics: law
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English ayel, aiel, from Old French aiol, aiuel, from Vulgar Latin *aviolus, ultimately from Latin avus. Compare modern French aïeul.