gavel
To divide or distribute according to the gavel systemTo divide or distribute according to the gavel system.
Recorded US: Sylvanmoon, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» The judge banged his gavel again.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(transitive)To divide or distribute according to the gavel system.
To use a gavel.
To begin or end legal proceedings
The judge gavelled for order in the courtroom after the defendant burst out with a confession.
Examples
8 sentencesThe judge banged his gavel again.
The judge banged his gavel.
The judge pounded the table with his gavel.
The judge closed the session with a strike from her gavel.
Finally, the judge closed the session with a strike from his gavel.
Translations
1 languagesOrigin
From Middle English gavel, from Old English gafol, from Proto-West Germanic *gabul, from PFrom 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”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
gavels, gaveling, gaveled, gaveledWord family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.