Alewife Definition

ālwīf
alewives
noun
alewives
A fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) of North American Atlantic waters and some inland lakes, which swims up rivers to spawn.
American Heritage
A woman who keeps an alehouse.
Webster's New World
A NW Atlantic clupeid fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) that swims up rivers to spawn in the spring: used for food and in fertilizers.
Webster's New World

(archaic) A woman who keeps an alehouse.

Wiktionary

A North American fish, Clupea vernalis, of the herring family.

Wiktionary
Synonyms:
  • Pomolobus pseudoharengus
  • Alosa pseudoharengus

Other Word Forms of Alewife

Noun

Singular:
alewife
Plural:
alewives

Origin of Alewife

  • Probably alteration (influenced by alewife) of obsolete allowes a type of shad from French alose shad from Old French from Late Latin alausa

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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

    From Wiktionary

  • Unknown. Possibly from aloof, the Indian 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.

    From Wiktionary

  • ale + wife

    From Wiktionary

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alewife