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countable and uncountable, plural gavels
(historical) Rent.
(obsolete) Usury; interest on money.
(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.
third-person singular simple present gavels, present participle gaveling or gavelling, simple past and past participle gaveled or gavelled
(transitive) To divide or distribute according to the gavel system. examples
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. quotations examples
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 elected woman in American political history.
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
(metonymically, chiefly US) The legal system as a whole. examples
A mason's setting maul. examples
To use a gavel. examples
A small heap of grain, not tied up into a bundle. quotations examples
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 discharge
1857, United States Patent Office, Commissioner of Patents Annual Report
(Scotland, archaic, architecture) A gable.