different between javel vs gavel

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?æv?l/

Noun

javel (plural javels)

1. (obsolete) A vagabond.

French

Etymology

Ellipsis of eau de Javel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a.v?l/

Noun

javel f (plural javels)

1. bleach

Synonyms

• eau de Javel

Derived terms

• javelliser

Further reading

• “javel” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??a.v?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??æ.v?l/

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; also called gavelkind.

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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

Translations

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.

Usage notes

• In US English, the participles are gaveled and gaveling; in British English they are gavelled and gavelling.

Translations

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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

Translations

Etymology 4

Noun

gavel (plural gavels)

1. (Scotland, architecture) A gable.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Anagrams

• glave

Swedish

Noun

gavel c

1. a gable, a short wall of a building

Declension

Related terms

• husgavel