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gavel
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
gavel
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Already the auctioneer was positioned outside on the lawn, a table before him and a wooden gavel in his hand.
▪ Maitre Tajan will be bringing the gavel down on two attractive paintings from the Polo collection in this sale of Old Masters.
▪ So which party will voters see when the final gavel closes the convention tomorrow night?
▪ The big gavel of term limits has come down hard.
▪ The new jacket, with its swinging gavel and bold lettering, looks like a John Grisham thriller.
▪ The new Senate president banged down the gavel and called the chamber to order with a strong firm voice.
▪ Then he banged a gavel to pronounce them married and they all kissed, to wild applause from the gallery.
▪ Using the butt of a pistol as a gavel Rayne began the auction.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gavel

Gavel \Gav"el\ (g[a^]v"[e^]l), n. A gable. [Prov. Eng.]
--Halliwell.

Gavel

Gavel \Gav"el\, n. [OF. gavelle, F. javelle, prob. dim. from L. capulus handle, fr. capere to lay hold of, seize; or cf. W. gafael hold, grasp. Cf. Heave.] A small heap of grain, not tied up into a bundle.
--Wright.

Gavel

Gavel \Gav"el\, n. [Etymol. uncertain.]

  1. The mallet of the presiding officer in a legislative body, public assembly, court, masonic body, etc.

  2. A mason's setting maul.
    --Knight.

Gavel

Gavel \Gav"el\, n. [OF. gavel, AS. gafol, prob. fr. gifan to give. See Give, and cf. Gabel tribute.] (Law) Tribute; toll; custom. [Obs.] See Gabel.
--Cowell.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
gavel

"small mallet used by presiding officers at meetings," 1805, American English, of unknown origin; perhaps connected with German dialectal gaffel "brotherhood, friendly society," from Middle High German gaffel "society, guild," related to Old English gafol "tribute," giefan "to give" (see habit). But in some sources gavel also is identified as a type of mason's tool, in which case the extended meaning may be via freemasonry. As a verb, by 1887, from the noun. Old English had tabule "wooden hammer struck as a signal for assembly among monks," an extended sense of table (n.).

Wiktionary
gavel

Etymology 1 n. 1 (context historical English) rent. 2 (context obsolete English) usury; interest on money. Etymology 2

n. 1 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. 2 (context figuratively English) The legal system as a whole. 3 A mason's setting maul. vb. To use a gavel. Etymology 3

n. A small heap of grain, not tied up into a bundle. Etymology 4

n. A gable.

WordNet
gavel

n. a small mallet used by a presiding officer or a judge

Wikipedia
Gavel

A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle and often struck against a sound block, a striking surface typically also made of hardwood, to enhance its sounding qualities.

It is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially in the capacity of a chair or presiding officer. The expression passing the gavel signifies an orderly succession from one chair to another.

A gavel is used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations. According to tradition, Vice President John Adams used a gavel to call the very first Senate to order in New York in the spring of 1789. Since then, it has remained customary to rap the gavel against a lectern or desk to indicate the opening (call to order) and the closing (adjournment) of proceedings, giving rise to the phrase gavel-to-gavel to describe the entirety of a meeting or session. It is also used to keep the meeting itself calm and orderly.

The sound of the gavel strike, being abrupt to start and stop, and clearly audible by all present, serves to sharply define an action in time in a manner clearly perceivable by all, and to endow the action with practical as well as symbolic finality.

The gavel is used in courts of law in the United States and, by metonymy, is used there to represent the entire judiciary system, especially of judgeship; to bring down the gavel means to enforce or compel with the power of a court. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, gavels have never been used by judges, despite many American-influenced TV programmes depicting them.

In addition, auctioneers have used gavels to signal a sale.

Gavel (comics)

Gavel is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Usage examples of "gavel".

Reversing his gavel, he pointed across the room to a V-angle in the end partition, indicating that Fleech was to be taken there.

They could name them--Skiddaw and Saddleback, Helvellyn and Fairfield, Langdale Pike and the Gavel, Seatallan and Haycock, and through that circle of grey listening hills they could see the trumpeters moving.

Having gaveled that enterprising young woman into her clothing and out of his courtroom, Judge Blick had settled down to year after year of ordinary drunks, thieves, wife beaters, non-supportive ex-husbands, traffic-ticket scofflaws and Army deserters, with nothing ever to attract his attention.

Princess Cruise liner trying to return from Bermuda, the final bell ring of the New York stock exchange, the last clap of the gavel suspending Congress eight months ago.

Lodge, a bespectacled gentleman farmer with a cherubic face and handsome gray wavy hair, rapped the gavel.

Voices rippled across the small gray room until the judge banged her gavel and jolted Broyles into action.

Mason Broyles restrained his client, but the courtroom boiled over even as Judge Achacoso banged her gavel again and again.

Judge Schor, disgusted, tapped his gavel loudly, and ordered the court cleared and the session adjourned until the next morning.

The bailiff rushed to restrain Park, and Judge Shaheen hammered his gavel to quell the anxious babble in the court-room.

He stood up and shouted for silence but failed to get it until he pounded a gavel on the desk.

A display set into the wall came to life, and Trecker took a gavel from a drawer and rapped it on the desk.

As Winterberry walked slowly to Ailim, Bucus towered over the table, waving his gavel at her.

The robe and the gavel do notwith rare exceptionsturn middle-level politicians, average lawyers, and ideologically extreme professors into justices of the highest caliber.

The picture frames, a crystal bud vase, an assortment of tiny bronze cats, millefleur paperweights, a walnut gavel with a bronze plate on the handle.

Skyler took a front-row seat and peered down from the balcony, just as the speaker gaveled the proceedings to order and asked for a voice vote.