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Definition gavel

Etymology 1

From Middle English gavel, from Old English gafol, from Proto-Germanic *gabul?, from Proto-Germanic *geban? (“to give”), equivalent to give +‎ -el.

Noun

gavel (countable and uncountable, plural gavels)

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.

Verb

gavel (third-person singular simple present gavels, present participle gaveling or gavelling, simple past and past participle gaveled or gavelled)

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

Etymology 2

Origin obscure. Perhaps alteration of cavel (“a stone mason's hammer”). More at cavel. Has also been linked to an Old Norse origin.

Noun

gavel (plural gavels)

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. (metonymically, chiefly US) The legal system as a whole.
3. A mason's setting maul.

Verb

gavel (third-person singular simple present gavels, present participle gaveling or gavelling, simple past and past participle gaveled or gavelled)

1. To use a gavel.

Etymology 3

Old French gavelle, French javelle, probably diminutive from Latin capulus (“handle”), from capere (“to lay hold of, seize”); or compare Welsh gafael (“hold, grasp”). Compare heave.

Noun

gavel (plural gavels)

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

Etymology 4

Noun

gavel (plural gavels)

1. (Scotland, architecture) A gable.

Results 345 Words with the letters GAVEL

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