Vails
. Blackmail in the shape of fees to servants. (From the Latin verb valeo, to be worth, to be of value; French, valoir.) The older form was avails.
“Vails to servants being much in fashion.”
Russell: Representative Actors.
· 
· 
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.