avail

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English availen, also availlen and aveilen,^[2] probably formed from Middle English a- + vailen (“to be of use”), as if vailen (the obsolete vail) were a shortened form.^[3][4][5] Hoad, Weekley, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English point to pairs such as amount and mount.^[5][6][7][8] Etymonline and the MED take it instead as an Anglo-French formation.^[9][2] Vailen is from vaill-, the stressed stem of Old French valoir (“to be worth”),^{[4][9][10][2]} from Latin valeō (“to be strong, be worth”),^{[9][11][5][8]} from Proto-Indo-European *wal- (“to be strong”).^[9][11] The OED compares the rare Anglo-Norman availer or availler, to be worth or of advantage, which it takes as itself formed after the English verb;^[3] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary records it from 1280–1307.^[12] The noun, about 1400, is probably from the verb,^[3][4][7] though Barnhart and the OED allow for some influence of de vaille (“of value”) misread as d'availle.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be useful or effective, to serve a purpose, chiefly with a negative: about 1300, in Body and Soul.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

By about 1330 the verb also took an object, to benefit or help someone.^[3] It was common in Middle English: Chaucer uses it 58 times and Gower 47.^[13] In law it meant to be valid (about 1400), and the reflexive avail oneself of, to make use of, is recorded from 1582;^[3] the intransitive avail of (1596) now survives in Irish, Caribbean and South Asian English.^[3] From 1824 avail oneself could also mean to make oneself available.^[3] The noun, advantage or benefit (1409), soon had legal use for validity and, in the plural avails, for profits or proceeds, later chiefly North American.^[3][14] It is now used mainly in phrases such as of no avail and to little avail, recorded from before 1450.^[3][15] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as profit, advantage or benefit.^[16] Hoad notes the derivative available from the 15th century.^[5] In American journalism an avail has been, since 1976, a brief press conference, short for available or availability.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to be useful or effective.^[3][9]
• c. 1330 – transitive, to benefit or help.^[3]
• c. 1400 – in law, to be valid.^[3]
• 1409 – noun, benefit, advantage.^[3]
• 1429 – avails, profits or proceeds.^[3]
• before 1450 – to no avail and similar phrases.^[3]
• 1582 – avail oneself of, to make use of.^[3]
• 1824 – reflexive, to make oneself available.^[3]
• 1976 – noun, a brief press conference (US).^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be of use, help or advantage; to be effective: All their protests availed nothing.^[15][14][3]
2. To benefit or help someone: What will it avail us to wait?^[14][3]
3. avail oneself of: to make use of; to take advantage of: Guests may avail themselves of the library.^[15][3]
4. avail of (Irish, Caribbean and South Asian English): to make use of.^[3]

Noun

1. Use or advantage, especially in of no avail and to little avail: They searched to no avail.^[15][14][3]
2. avails (archaic or North American): profits or proceeds.^[14][3]
3. (US, informal) A brief press conference given by a public figure.^[14]
4. (obsolete) Value or worth.^[14][3]

Word family

• availingly
• unavailed
• available

Related words

• availability
• unavailable
• unavailing
• value
• prevail
• vail
• valiant

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.