Gavel

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɡa.vəl/

Definitions

1. A mallet traditionally used by the chairperson to call for order during meetings, as well as to signify the beginning or conclusion of discussions, and to maintain formal decorum in proceedings
2. A small wooden hammer used by a judge or auctioneer to signal rulings or the conclusion of bids
3. An instrument, typically wooden, struck to grab attention or mark decisions in legal or auction settings

Etymology: The gavel that a judge bangs for order is a fairly recent tool in its own right, but the word is far older. It descends from Old English "gafol", meaning rent or tax, a payment owed to a lord. The root is the same as the Old English verb for giving, so the word's oldest sense was something handed over. Only later did it come to name the hammer, and the hammer's connection to money survives in the idea of a sale ended by a sharp blow. The tool's own name is murkier. Scholars have proposed a link to a dialect word "cavel", itself a variant of "kevel", a mason's hammer with a flat face, borrowed from Old Norse. A rival theory traces the word back through Old French "gavelle", a bundle or sheaf, to a Latin word for a handle. Neither origin is settled, so the English word's true path remains uncertain, and the thread back to "giving" is the one most firmly documented.

Synonyms: mallet, hammer