noun
Meaning 1
Rent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, historical, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
gavel
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
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /ˈɡa.vəl/
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US: /ˈɡæ.vəl/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: G AE1 V AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Usury; interest on money.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, historical, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
The beginning or end of legal proceedings.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, metonymically
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
The legal system as a whole.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, metonymically
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
A mason's setting maul.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
A small heap of grain, not tied up into a bundle.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 9
A gable.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, archaic
Topics: architecture
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 10
To divide or distribute according to the gavel system.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 11
To use a gavel.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 12
To begin or end legal proceedings
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The judge gavelled for order in the courtroom after the defendant burst out with a confession.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 13
a small mallet used by a presiding officer or a judge
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: mallet, beetle
History
Etymology
From Middle English gavel, from Old English gafol, from Proto-West Germanic *gabul, from Proto-Germanic *gebaną (“to give”), equivalent to give + -el.
Origin obscure. Possibly an alteration of dialectal cavel, a variant of kevel (“a stone mason's axe with a flat face, a cleat or bollard”), from Middle English kevel (“a mason's hammer”), from Old Norse kefli (“a piece of wood, stick, cylinder, mangle”). Cognate with Norwegian kjevle (“rolling pin”).
From Old French gavelle (cf. Modern French javelle) probably diminutive from Latin capulus (“handle”), from capere (“to lay hold of, seize”); or compare Welsh gafael (“hold, grasp”). Compare heave.
Across languages
Translations
30 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Czech: kladívko — wooden mallet
- Finnish: nuija — wooden mallet
- Finnish: puheenjohtajan nuija — wooden mallet
- French: marteau — wooden mallet
- Georgian: ხის ჩაქუჩი (xis čakuči) — wooden mallet
- Georgian: ჩაქუჩი (čakuči) — wooden mallet
- German: Hammer — wooden mallet
- German: Richterhammer — wooden mallet
- German: Auktionshammer — wooden mallet
- Italian: mazzuolo — wooden mallet
- Japanese: 小槌 (kozuchi) — wooden mallet
- Romanian: ciocănel n ciocan — wooden mallet
- Russian: деревя́нный молоток m) (molotok) — wooden mallet
- Spanish: mazo — wooden mallet
- Spanish: martillo — wooden mallet
- Sranan Tongo: amra — wooden mallet
- Swedish: klubba — wooden mallet
- Swedish: ordförandeklubba — wooden mallet
- Turkish: tokmak — wooden mallet
- Turkish: hâkim tokmağı — wooden mallet
- Turkish: yargıç tokmağı — wooden mallet
- Yiddish: העמערל (hemerl) — wooden mallet
- Galician: gavela — heap of grain
- Galician: pabea — heap of grain
- Finnish: nuijia — to use a gavel
- Georgian: ჩაქუჩის დარტყმა (čakučis darṭq̇ma) — to use a gavel
- Romanian: ciocăni — to use a gavel
- Romanian: lovi cu ciocanul — to use a gavel
- Spanish: dar mazazos — to use a gavel
- Spanish: dar martillazos — to use a gavel