| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| avail |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | a·vail |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -v l |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: a·vailed, a·vail·ing, a·vails
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | To be of use or advantage to; help: Nothing could avail the dying patient. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To be of use, value, or advantage; serve: Halfway measures will no longer avail. | | NOUN: | Use, benefit, or advantage: labored to no avail. | | IDIOM: | avail (oneself) of To make use of. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English availen : a-, intensive pref. (from Latin ad-; see ad–) + Old French valoir, vail-, to be worth (from Latin val re, to be strong; see wal- in Appendix I). | | OTHER FORMS: | a·vailing·ly —ADVERB
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
