avail (2), availe, avale, auaile, auale (u = v)

t. & i. [From Fr. avaler =to swallow, take down, let down; aval = downwards. In Ital. avallare is to let down, from Low Lat. avalo, or avallo, with the same meaning.] IMG:content-0915.png:[blocks in formation] It is often preceded by no, much , little , and other adjectives, indicating quantity, number, or proportion;; thus, "Of no avail,' "of much avail," . "Truth, light upon this way, is of no more avail to us than errour."-Locke. 12. Means, property. (Generally in the plural , avails = proceeds, profits.) B. Scots Law : An old feudal practice which gradually acquired the force of law, by which a lord or other superior exacted from any va al's son, who happened to be unmarried at the time of his father's death, but afterwards entered the matrimonial state, the entire tocher , that is, dower of the lady. This was called single avail , Nay, more, the superior believed himself entitled to choose a wife for the young man, and take from him double avail if, rejecting her, he wedded another. When the Court of Se ion gained a voice in these matters, the judges, almost as recalcitrant as the bridegroom himself against double avail , were never known to have given the smallest a istance to an aggrieved chief in carrying out his modest claim. ( Erskine : Instit . , bk. ii., title v., §§ 20, 21.)