Dictionary
1alewife
noun ale·wife \ˈāl-ˌwīf\
Definition of ALEWIFE
: a woman who keeps an alehouse
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First Known Use of ALEWIFE
15th century
Rhymes with ALEWIFE
case knife, clasp knife, drawknife, farmwife, fishwife, flick-knife, folklife, good life, goodwife, half-life, highlife, housewife, jackknife, loosestrife, lowlife, midlife, midwife, nightlife, oldwife, penknife, pro-life, real-life, shelf life, steak knife, still life, true-life, wakerife, whole-life, wildlife
2alewife
noun
plural ale·wives\-ˌwīvz\
Definition of ALEWIFE
: a food fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) of the herring family that is very abundant along the Atlantic coast; also : any of several related fishes (as the menhaden)
Origin of ALEWIFE
perhaps alteration of obsolete allowes, a kind of shad, from French alose shad, from Old French, from Late Latin alausa
First Known Use: 1633
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