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alewife

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alewife¹

  • /ˈeɪlwʌɪf/ UK
  • /ˈeɪlˌwaɪf/ US

Rhymes with -eɪlwʌɪf, -eɪlwaɪf

Where it comes from

From ale + wife.

noun alewives

  1. archaic A woman who keeps an alehouse.

    Similar: brewess

alewife²

  • /ˈeɪlwʌɪf/ UK
  • /ˈeɪlˌwaɪf/ US

Rhymes with -eɪlwʌɪf, -eɪlwaɪf

Where it comes from

Unknown. Possibly from aloof, the Narragansett name of a fish. See Winthrop on the culture of maize in America, “Phil Trans.” No. 142, p. 1065, and Baddam’s “Memoirs,” vol. ii. p. 131.

Possibly from allowes (“a type of shad”), from French alose (“shad”), from Old French [Term?], from Late Latin alausa, influenced by Etymology 1 due to large belly of the fish.

noun alewives

  1. A migrating North American fish, Alosa pseudoharengus. In his System of Nature, A. D. 1776, Linnæus declares, “I hereby separate the whales from the fish.” But of my own knowledge, I know that down to the year 1850, sharks and shad, alewives and herring, against Linnæus’s express edict, were still found dividing the possession of the same seas with the

    Similar: branch herring, ellwhop, ellwife, gaspereau, sawbelly

  2. Any of several species similar in appearance.

Translations

Every language

noun female publican

Españoltabernera, cervecera
Françaispatronne
DeutschWirtin, Schankwirtin
Italianoproprietaria di una birreria

noun Alosa pseudoharengus

Españolpinchagua
日本語エールワイフ ēruwaifu
中文灰西鯡 /灰西鲱 huī xī fèi
Françaisgaspareau, gasparot
DeutschGroßaugenhering
Русскийсероспинка serospinka, элевайф elevajf

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Cite this
MLA

"alewife." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/alewife. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

alewife. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/alewife

Chicago

"alewife." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/alewife.

BibTeX
@misc{alewife_2026,
  title = {alewife},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/alewife},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}