Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

JILE, n., v. Also jeyl, jyle, jyal, -el, gyle. Gen.Sc. forms of Eng. jail. Cf. P.L.D. § 46. [dʒəil]

I. n. As in Eng., a prison. Also attrib. Deriv. jiler, jyler, a jailer (Abd. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer xiii.; Wgt. 1880 G. Fraser Lowland Lore 159; em.Sc. 1912 W. Cuthbertson Dykeside Folk 36); phr. to get the jile, to be sent to prison. Gen.Sc. Also fig. to be severely punished. Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 24:
Sae he was taen, an pitten i' jile.Sc. 1896 Stevenson W. of Hermiston iii.:
Mr Archibald Weir would have been in the jyle the night.Arg. 1920 H. Foulis Vital Spark 39:
I told him many a time that it wasna right, becaause we might be found oot and get the jyle for't.Dmf. 1920 J. L. Waugh Heroes 52:
John Kennedy, poacher, jile-bird, an' ne'er-do-weel.Fif. 1939 St Andrews Cit. (14 Jan.) 7:
Ye'll hae to pay a muckle fine Or else ye'll get the jile.Gsw. 1970 George MacDonald Fraser The General Danced at Dawn (1988) 159:
"Hey, MacNeill. Is it right McAuslan's goin' tae get the jail?" Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 39:
jile A local pronunication of jail. Used as a threat of vague but terrible punishment: 'You'll get the jile if they dishes urny done when Ah get hame.'wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 58:
Because yir a wummin disny mean that yir above the law.
Git tae vote, eh? Well, ye git tae go tae jile an a'. Cai. 1992 James Miller A Fine White Stoor 70:
Now Pogo lives in a council hoose and fleshes oot his broo money and his social security wi buying and selling scrap, poaching, doing odd jobs at the harvest. They are as often in the jile as oot o it. Fif. 1992 Simon Taylor Mortimer's Deep 139:
'Whaur's de Mortimer?' I muttered out of the corner of my mouth, once my head had stopped spinning. 'I the jyle, by word o the King,' he replied. Edb. 1995 Irvine Welsh Marabou Stork Nightmares (1996) 22:
That's how I knew the old man was in the jail, there was only ma Ma's wages for doing the school dinners and the cleaning. Sc. 1998 Herald (24 Mar) 13:
Nobody ever intended for some unsuspecting tourist to get the jail from having a glass of wine in the sun.Gsw. 1998 Alan Spence Way to Go (1999) 4:
'Time to let you out the jail, eh? ...'w.Lth. 2000 Davie Kerr A Puckle Poems 71:
At the fit o Calton Hill,
where the weans yince went ti schuil,
there's a buildin, baur'd an boltit lik a jile. em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 88:
One of the paramedics said sharply, 'Well, we're getting oot o here now, whitiver you decide, or he'll no be appearin in any court, gaun tae the jyle or gaun hame tae his mither.'

II. v. To imprison, confine in a jail. Gen.Sc. Vbl.n. and ppl.adj. jilin'.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xxiii.:
An' wud it be a fine or jilin than?Abd. 1916 G. Abel Wylins 55, 98:
The warders o' the jilin' shops. The jilin'-fowk'll gie him duds.Lnk. 1928 W. C. Fraser Yelpin' Stane 125:
He's gaun to jile the man that did it.Abd. 2000 Sheena Blackhall The Singing Bird 46:
That self-same chapel, caad "The Pity Vault",
Jyled witches catched invokin dreid occult;
Keepin them close till they war cairtit roon
As kinnlin - human bonfires in the toun.