From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishjailjail1 (also gaol British English) /dʒeɪl/ ●●● S3 W2 noun [countable, uncountable] PRISONa place where criminals are kept as part of their punishment, or where people who have been charged with a crime are kept before they are judged in a law court SYN prison He’s been in jail for three months already.► see thesaurus at prisonCOLLOCATIONSverbsgo to jailThey’re going to jail for a long time.send somebody to jailThe judge sent Meyer to jail for six years.put somebody in jailThe government would put him in jail if he stayed in the country.throw somebody in jail (=put someone in jail)Drunks were thrown in jail for a few days.spend time/three months/six years etc in jailGriffiths spent three days in jail after pushing a policeman.serve time/five years etc in jail (=spend time in jail)He was finally released after serving 27 years in jail.get out of jailHe got out of jail after five years for armed robbery.release somebody from jailMore than 30 of those arrested were released from jail for lack of evidence.escape from jailThe killer has escaped from jail.ADJECTIVES/NOUN + jailthe local jailThe suspects were taken to the local jail.a town/city/county jailHe was held without bail for thirty days in the county jail.a high-/top-/maximum-security jailSome inmates at the high-security jail had been wrongfully imprisoned.jail + NOUNa jail sentenceHe’s serving a 7-year jail sentence.a jail term (=period of time in jail)He served only half of his three-month jail term.a jail cellThe suspect was found dead in his jail cell.
Examples from the Corpus
jail• It was a special open day for a jail which is now due to open in April.• Alfassi was taken to a cell in the Los Angeles County jail.• 58% of prisoners are in jail for non violent crimes.• If I stayed there, I would have been in jail.• The strikers were harassed, beaten and put in jail for trespassing.• Not because Sharpe already has spent time in jail.• The riots ended with long jail terms for 338 mobsters.• That act of citizen charity left Barry free to reclaim city hall once he got out of jail.• New doubt over twenty men in top security jail.• This old building is the jail that Butch Cassidy escaped from in 1887.• Grover got caught for not paying his taxes and went to jail.in jail• Konrad's been in jail for nine years.jailjail2 (also gaol British English) ●●○ verb [transitive] KEEP/STOREto put someone in jail SYN imprisonjail somebody for something Watson was jailed for tax evasion.jail somebody for two months/six years/life etc They ought to jail her killer for life.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
jail• Many of the group's leaders have now been jailed.• Murderers spared by the family are normally jailed by the state for five years.• Gang leader Calton, 39, of no fixed address, was jailed for 25 years.• Marco was arrested and jailed for accepting bribes from drug dealers.• About 5000 people have been jailed for crimes of terrorism or treason since 1992.• Two brothers were jailed for robbery.• Like the men jailed for the murder of Carl Bridgewater in 1979.• If the killer is caught, prosecuted and jailed, it provides some resolution of the rage.• Krishna Sen, the first editor to be jailed, was released from prison three months ago after serving a two-year sentence.Origin jail1 (1200-1300) Old French jaiole, from Latin caveola, from cavea “cage” 