alewife

[ eyl-wahyf ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, plural ale·wives.

alewife

[ eyl-wahyf ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

, plural ale·wives.

alewife

/ ˈeɪlˌwaɪf /

a North American fish, Pomolobus pseudoharengus, similar to the herring Clupea harengus: family Clupeidae (herrings)

Origin of alewife¹

1625–35, Americanism; earlier allowes, perhaps influenced by alewife ², probably < French alose shad < Gallo-Latin alausa

Origin of alewife²

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; ale, wife

Origin of alewife¹

C19: perhaps an alteration (through influence of alewife, that is, a large rotund woman, alluding to the fish's shape) of French alose shad

Bunch (Mother), an alewife, mentioned by Dekker in his drama called Satiromastix .

Among those with a familiar appearance were the sturgeon, perch, and pike, and a small fish resembling our alewife.

The Menhaden make their appearance in the spring with the arrival of the shad, alewife, blue-fish, and weak-fish.

The tinker in like vein confesses that he has run up a score with Marian Hacket, the fat alewife of Wincot.

Alewife in old English was applied to the women, usually very stout dames, who kept alehouses.

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