gavel
UK/ˈɡa.vəl//ˈɡæ.vəl/
gavel noun: rent.
Noun (1)
gavel (countable and uncountable, plural gavels)
Verb (1)
gavel (third-person singular simple present gavels, present participle (US) gaveling or (UK) gavelling, simple past and past participle (US) gaveled or (UK) gavelled)
- To divide or distribute according to the gavel system.
Noun (2)
gavel (plural gavels)
- 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.
- More than three decades later, Ms. Pelosi is all but assured on Thursday of reclaiming her former title as speaker of the House, the first lawmaker in more than half a century to hold the office twice. With the gavel in hand, she will cement her status as the highest-ranking and most powerful...2019 January 2, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Nancy Pelosi, Icon of Female Power, Will Reclaim Role as Speaker and Seal a Place in History”, in New York Times
- The beginning or end of legal proceedings.
- The legal system as a whole.
- A mason's setting maul.
Verb (2)
gavel (third-person singular simple present gavels, present participle (US) gaveling or (UK) gavelling, simple past and past participle (US) gaveled or (UK) gavelled)
- 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.
Noun (3)
gavel (plural gavels)
- A small heap of grain, not tied up into a bundle.
- The combination with a mechanical rake of the roof or screen herein described, or the equivalent thereof, to intervene and keep the gavel of grain collected on the platform separated during its discharge1857, United States Patent Office, Commissioner of Patents Annual Report
Noun (4)
gavel (plural gavels)
- A gable.
gavel meaning in Hindi, Tamil and Urdu
gavel in Hindi
- gavel
- मुँगरी muṅgrī
gavel in Tamil
- ஏலச்சுத்தியல்
gavel in Urdu
- خراج, کرایہ
Forms of gavel
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gavels |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gavels |
| present participle US | gaveling |
| present participle UK | gavelling |
| past participle US | gaveled |
| past US | gaveled |
| past participle UK | gavelled |
| past UK | gavelled |
Origin of gavel
From 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”).
From Old French gavelle (cf. Modern French javelle) probably diminutive from Latin capulus (“handle”), from capere (“to lay hold of, seize”); or compare Welsh gafael (“hold, grasp”). Compare heave.
Words formed from gavel
Questions about gavel
- What does gavel mean?
- Gavel means rent.
- What is gavel in Hindi?
- Gavel in Hindi is मुँगरी (muṅgrī). See Gavel meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is gavel?
- Gavel can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce gavel?
- Gavel is pronounced /ˈɡa.vəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of gavel?
- The plural of gavel is gavels.
Words near gavel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gavel (page history and authors); मुँगरी (Hindi) (page history and authors); gavel (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gavel (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-gavel.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gavel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gavel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.