- parole
- 1616, "word of honor," especially "promise by a prisoner of war not to escape," from Fr. parole "word, speech" (in parole d'honneur "word of honor") from Gallo-Romance *paraula "speech, discourse," from L. parabola (see parable). Sense of "conditional release of a prisoner before full term" is first attested 1908 in criminal slang. The verb (1716) originally was what the prisoner did ("pledge"); its transitive meaning "put on parole" is first attested 1853.