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alley

[al-ee]

Example Sentences Origin

noun, plural -leys.

a passage, as through a continuous row of houses, permitting access from the street to backyards, garages, etc.

a narrow back street.

a walk, as in a garden, enclosed with hedges or shrubbery.

Bowling.

a long, narrow, wooden lane or floor along which the ball is rolled.

(often plural) a building for bowling.

bowling green.

Tennis. the space on each side of a tennis court between the doubles sideline and the service or singles sideline.

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Rare. an aisle.

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Idiom

up/down one's alley, Informal. in keeping with or satisfying one's abilities, interests, or tastes: If you like science fiction, this book will be right up your alley.

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Alley is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

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Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English al(e)y < Middle French alee walk, passage, derivative of feminine of ale, past participle of aler to walk (French aller), probably < Vulgar Latin *allārī, regularized from allātus, the suppletive past participle of afferre to bring (passive afferrī to be moved, conveyed, to betake oneself); French aller often allegedly < Latin ambulāre to walk (see amble), but this offers grave phonetic problems, since the m and b would not normally be lost

Synonyms
2. See street.

Example Sentences

They've already turned the newsroom into a bowling alley.

His group's first study was conducted in an alley that is frequently used to park bicycles.

Your backyard, alley waythese places are teeming with life.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun, plural -leys. Chiefly Northeastern U.S.

a choice, large playing marble.

Origin:
1710–20; probably al(abaster) + -y², spelling to conform with alley¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To alley

Collins

World English Dictionary

alley¹ (ˈælɪ)

—n
1.	a narrow lane or passage, esp one between or behind buildings
2.	See bowling alley
3.	chiefly (US) tennis the space between the singles and doubles sidelines
4.	a walk in a park or garden, esp one lined with trees or bushes
5.	up one's alley, down one's alley See street

[C14: from Old French alee, from aler to go, ultimately from Latin ambulāre to walk]

alley² (ˈælɪ)

—n
	a large playing marble

[C18: shortened and changed from alabaster]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

alley

mid-14c., "passage in a house, covered way, walk in a garden," from O.Fr. alee (Mod.Fr. alée), from ale, fem. pp. of aler "to go," which ultimately may be a contraction of L. ambulare "to walk," or a back-formation from L. allatus "having been brought to." Applied c.1400 to "long narrow enclosure

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for playing at bowls, skittles, etc." The meaning "passage between buildings" is from c.1510; the word also is applied in Amer.Eng. to what in London is called a mews. To be up someone's alley "in someone's neighborhood" (lit. or fig.) is from 1931; alley-cat first attested 1904.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

alley

In addition to the idiom beginning with alley, also see blind alley; right up one's alley.