Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GAV'EL-KIND, n. [This word gavel is British. In W. gavael, signifies a hold, a grasp, tenure; gavael-cenedyl, the hold or tenure of a family, (not the kind of tenure;) gavaelu, to hold, grasp, arrest. Ir. gabhail, gabham, to take; gabhailcine, gavelkind. In Ir. gabhal is a fork, (G. gabel.) and the groin, and it expresses the collateral branches of a family; but the Welsh application is most probably the true one.]

A tenure in England, by which land descended from the father to all his sons in equal portions, and the land of a brother, dying without issue, descended equally to his brothers. This species of tenure prevailed in England before the Norman Conquest, in many parts of the kingdom, perhaps in the whole realm; but particularly in Kent, where it still exists. Selden. Cowel. Blackstone. Cyc.