gaoler n someone who guards prisoners Usage(s) Disembarking at Boston in 1656, Mary Fisher, "a religious maiden," and her companion Ann Austin, Quakers, were welcomed by hangman, by gaoler. The Virginia Gazette recently carried a notice of an arrest of a runaway slave signed by "Mary Lindsey, gaoler" of Henrico County. Said Napoleon of Sir Hudson: "The man is a coward of long experience and a gaoler from taste. Synonym(s) prison guard jailer jailor screw turnkey