AVAIL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Avail

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/əvˈeɪl/ Listen

noun

Avail n.

Profit; advantage toward success; benefit; value; as, labor, without economy, is of little avail. "The avail of a deathbed repentance."

pl. Proceeds; as, the avails of a sale by auction. "The avails of their own industry."

Synonyms: Use; benefit; utility; profit; service.

verb

Avail v. t. & v. i. See Avale, v. (Obs.)

Avail v. t. (past & past part. availed; pres. part. availing)

To turn to the advantage of; to be of service to; to profit; to benefit; to help; as, artifices will not avail the sinner in the day of judgment. "O, what avails me now that honor high!"

To promote; to assist. (Obs.)

To avail one's self of, to make use of; take advantage of. "Then shall they seek to avail themselves of names." "I have availed myself of the very first opportunity."

Avail v. i. To be of use or advantage; to answer the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object; as, the plea in bar must avail, that is, be sufficient to defeat the suit; this scheme will not avail; medicines will not avail to check the disease. "What signs avail?" "Words avail very little with me, young man."

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Etymology of 'Avail'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Avail" Quotes from Famous Books

... ugly enough herb, a prickly plant which sprawled low in the shadow of the trees. Its root was black, and it had a milk- white flower; the Gods called it Moly, and no mortal strength could avail to pull it from the soil; but as Odysseus says, telling the story, "There is nothing which the Gods cannot do"; and it came up easily enough at the touch of the beardless youth. We know how the ...

— Escape and Other Essays • Arthur Christopher Benson

... fast!" roared the captain, as he stormed about the deck in a paroxysm of rage. But man's rage could avail nothing. They had missed the passage by a few feet, and now they had to wait the fall and rise again of the tide ere they could ...

— Martin Rattler • R.M. Ballantyne

... cannot avail myself of Mr. Gifford's remarks, because I have received none, except on the first act. ...

— Life of Lord Byron, Vol. IV - With His Letters and Journals • Thomas Moore

... she said, and Miss Todd, looking round from a neighbouring table, shone upon her with her rosy face. But all the shining was of no avail. ...

— The Bertrams • Anthony Trollope

... men. Therefore they sought to turn the hero from this venture. Up spake then the daring Siegfried: "Dear father mine, I would fain ever be without the love of noble dames, if I may not woo her in whom my heart hath great delight; whatsoever any may aver, it will avail ...

— The Nibelungenlied • Unknown

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