Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Gaol \Gaol\, n. [See {Jail}.]
   A place of confinement, especially for minor offenses or
   provisional imprisonment; a jail. [Preferably, and in the
   United States usually, written {jail}.]

   {Commission of general gaol delivery}, an authority conferred
      upon judges and others included in it, for trying and
      delivering every prisoner in jail when the judges, upon
      their circuit, arrive at the place for holding court, and
      for discharging any whom the grand jury fail to indict.
      [Eng.]

   {Gaol delivery}. (Law) See {Jail delivery}, under {Jail}.

Source : WordNet®

gaol
     n : a correctional institution used to detain persons who are in
         the lawful custody of the government (either accused
         persons awaiting trial or convicted persons serving a
         sentence) [syn: {jail}, {jailhouse}, {clink}, {slammer}]
     v : lock up or confine, in or as in a jail; "The suspects were
         imprisoned without trial"; "the murderer was incarcerated
         for the rest of his life" [syn: {imprison}, {incarcerate},
          {lag}, {immure}, {put behind bars}, {jail}, {jug}, {put
         away}, {remand}]