1. An escape by several prisoners from a jail.
2. Archaic. A clearing procedure by which all prisoners at a given jail are tried for the offenses that they are accused of having committed.
general jail delivery. Collectively, acquittals in high numbers as a result of either lax or reckless administration of the law or defects in the law.
3. Archaic. The commission issued to judges of assize, directing them to clear a jail by trying — and either acquitting or condemning — all the inmates.
4. Archaic. The court charged with the trial of all ordinary criminal cases. — Also written gaol delivery. See COMMISSION OF GAOL DELIVERY.
