Forms: 5–8 au- availe, 5–7 au- avayle, 5 au- availle, au- avayll(e, 5–6 advail(le, advayle, 5– avail. North. 5 awayle, awaylle, aweyle, 6 availl, avale. See AV-. [f. prec. vb.; or perhaps on VAIL sb., which seems, however, to be later, and may itself be an aphetic form of this.]
† 1. Beneficial effect; advantage, benefit, profit. arch. or Obs. exc. as in 4.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 850. For anntes eke an oules herte availe is To putte upon her bedde. Ibid., III. 497. Croppe and tail To save … is thyne advail.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., I. xxiv. 76. Thus they may lette more than doo eny auayll.
1600. Tourneur, Transf. Metam., lxiii. Both usde their blades unto so good availe.
1694. Lond. Gaz., 2959/3. Which Horses … are to be rouped … to the best avail.
1871. Daily News, 24 July, 3/5. Taking avail of the cover.
† b. To have at avail: i.e., at an advantage Obs.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. xxiii. Hym thought no worship to haue a knyght at suche auaille, he to be on horsbak and he on foot.
c. 1500. in Furniv., Percy Folio, I. 107. So shalt thou nott skape … I have thee nowe at avayle.
† 2. Assistance, help, aid. Obs. exc. as in 4.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, xiii. 475. And ȝit kepte Tholome to his availles, In his refrescheng, twey batailles.
1556. Abp. Parker, Ps. ix. 10. For their aduayle thou wilt not fayle, All them that thee do seeke.
1640. Sanderson, 21 Serm., Ad. Aul. xii. (1673), 169. Furtherance or avail towards the attaining of that end.
† 3. Value, estimation. Obs. or arch.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. Prol. 50. The cur, or mastis, he haldis at small availl.
1631. J. Taylor (Water P.), Fort. Wheele (1848), 13. They hold your blessinge in no more avayle, Then is the flapping of a fox his taile!
1846. Sir W. Hamilton, Logic (1866), II. App. 252. It is only as indefinite that particular, it is only as definite that individual and general, quantities have any (and the same) logical avail.
4. Of avail: of advantage or assistance in accomplishing a purpose, effective, effectual. Of no avail, without avail: ineffectual. To little avail: with little effect, ineffectually, to little purpose.
c. 1450. Crt. of Love, 116. Cloth of gold … And other silk of easier availe.
c. 1698. Locke, Cond. Underst., § 14 (J.). Truth light upon this way, is of no more avail to us than Error.
1810. Southey, Kehama, XI. 11. The impervious mail, The shield and helmet of avail.
1814. Chalmers, Evid. Chr. Revel., i. 12. The highest sagacity is of no avail, when there is an insufficiency of data.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. v. 177. He found all he could urge without avail.
1862. Grote, Greece, xl. III. 434. Bows and arrows were of little avail.
1881. R. Buchanan, God & the Man, I. 281. This he did, but to little avail.
† 5. concr. (chiefly pl.) Profits or proceeds of business transactions; remuneration or perquisites of employment. Cf. VAILS. (Still common in U.S.)
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 392. A riȝt forto … haue certeyn fruytis or sum othir avail.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, M. viij. [He] promysed hym … grete auaylles and prouffytees.
1568. T. Howell, Arb. Amitie (1879), 83. The Marchant … Doth ioy for gaine of his auailes.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 476. This [Minium] setleth down to the bottom of the water … and the painters take it for their auailes.
a. 1733. North, Exam., II. iv. ¶ 59. 260. Which … is no small Availes of a Discoverer that has the selling the Copies.
1860. Hawthorne, Marble Faun (1879), II. xviii. 180. The avails are devoted to some beneficent … purpose.
