Meaning of Avail | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Effect in achieving a goal or aim; purpose, use (now usually in negative constructions).
   countable, uncountable
2. Proceeds; profits from business transactions.
   US, countable, uncountable
3. An advertising slot or package.
   countable, uncountable
4. A press avail.
   US, countable, uncountable
5. Non-binding notice of availability for work.
   British, countable, uncountable
6. A readily available stock of oil.
   countable, uncountable
7. Benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.
   countable, obsolete, uncountable
8. Effort; striving.
   countable, obsolete, poetic, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“I tried fixing it to no avail.”

“Labor, without economy, is of little avail.”

“Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.”

“At half-time, Poyet replaced Wes Brown with Liam Bridcutt in the heart of defence and sent out the rest of the players to atone for their first-half mistakes. To no avail.”

“The announcement was made in Leeds - the largest city in Europe without a mass transit system. It's also a city which has been doggedly pressing (to little avail) for an integrated transport system for two decades.”

“the avails of their own industry”

“The salesperson at an affiliate TV station might prepare an avail which offers two weeks of spots in early and late news[…].”

“At an avail, the ad server plays out the MPEG-2 audio/video elementary streams.”

“While holding an avail yesterday, the candidate lashed out at critics.”

“Total crude oil avails (production plus purchases) of even highly "self-sufficient" refiners are far greater than their reported refinery inputs.”

“I shal take the aduenture sayd Balen that god wille ordeyne me / but the swerd ye shalle not haue at this tyme by the feythe of my body / ye shalle repente hit within short tyme sayd the damoysel/ For I wold haue the swerd more for your auaylle than for myne / for I am passyng heuy for your sake”

“hardy Citizens[…]sticke not to sacrifice their honours and consciences, as those of old, their lives, for their Countries availe and safety.”

“So this friar, unworthy as he was of his holy calling, had me at an avail on every side, nor do I yet see what I could do but obey him, as I did.”

“And ev'n now, though he breathless lies, his sails / Are struggling with the winds, for our avails / T'explore a passage hid from human tract, / Will fame him in the enterprise or fact.”

CEFR level