avail

Etymology

From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).

verb

1. (transitive, often reflexive) To turn to the advantage of.
   I availed myself of the opportunity.
   It asserts that the museum has clear protocols for dealing with any form of discrimination or discontent, which it says [Tanya] Barson never availed herself of, […] 2021-07-25, Stephen Burgen, “Departures at high-profile Barcelona museum provoke anger in art world”, in The Observer, →ISSN
2. (transitive) To be of service to.
   Artifices will not avail the sinner in the day of judgment.
3. (transitive) To promote; to assist.
   All of this avail’d not, for whoe’er he be That tells my faults, I hate him mortally; 1713, Alexander Pope, The Wife of Bath Her Prologue, translation of original by Geoffrey Chaucer
4. (intransitive) To be of use or advantage; to answer or serve the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object.
   The plea in court must avail.
   This scheme will not avail.
   Medicines will not avail to halt the disease.
   Words avail very little with me, young man. 1817, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy
5. (India, Africa, elsewhere proscribed) To provide; to make available; to use or take advantage of (an opportunity or available resource).
   You can avail discounts on food.
   With this initiative, Valucard becomes an open system that is not limited to point of sale (POS) transactions, but now avails cash to its holders in various locations nationwide. November 16 2004, Nik Ogbulie, “Decongesting the Banking Floors”, in This Day, archived from the original on 2009-01-22

noun

1. Effect in achieving a goal or aim; purpose, use (now usually in negative constructions).
   I tried fixing it, to no avail
   Labor, without economy, is of little avail.
   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. 18 October 2014, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian
2. (now only US) Proceeds; profits from business transactions.
   the avails of their own industry 1862, Elijah Porter Barrows, The State And Slavery
3. (television, advertising) An advertising slot or package.
   The salesperson at an affiliate TV station might prepare an avail which offers two weeks of spots in early and late news[…]. 1994, Barry L. Sherman, Telecommunications Management: Broadcasting/cable and the New Technologies, page 353
   At an avail, the ad server plays out the MPEG-2 audio/video elementary streams. 2004, Walter S. Ciciora et al., Modern Cable Television Technology: Video, Voice, and Data Communications, page 123
4. (US, politics, journalism) A press avail.
   While holding an avail yesterday, the candidate lashed out at critics.
5. (Britain, acting) Non-binding notice of availability for work.
6. (oil industry) A readily available stock of oil.
   Total crude oil avails (production plus purchases) of even highly "self-sufficient" refiners are far greater than their reported refinery inputs. 1967, Interstate Compact on Oil and Gas (10th Extension), page 95
7. (obsolete) Benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.
8. 1895, Andrew Lang, A Monk of Fife:
9. (obsolete, poetic) Effort; striving.
   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. 1613, Thomas Campion, “Songs of Mourning”, in Poetical Works (in English) of Thomas Campion, published 1907, page 125

adj

1. (colloquial) Clipping of available.
   In another incident, Henry allegedly sent Areu a video titled "Fastest interview" in which a woman flashes her vagina to a man during a job interview and then immediately receives a job offer. Henry allegedly followed up the video by texting Areu, "Are you avail for anchor interview." 20 July 2020, Salvador Hernandez, “Former Fox News Anchor Ed Henry Has Been Accused Of Rape And Sexual Harassment In A New Lawsuit”, in BuzzFeed News, archived from the original on 2023-07-16
   Bravoholic NYC resident Trace Bechter, who attended the sentencing, disagreed with Stein's understanding of Housewives as purely scripted entertainment. "I thought, that can't be true, because if this current season of RHOSLC was written, we need completely new scriptwriters." (Bravo, I'm avail.) 9 January 2023, Sarah Galli, “Jen Shah's Prison Sentencing Was Like Another BravoCon—And Housewives Fans Are Conflicted”, in The Daily Beast, archived from the original on 2023-03-31