alewife

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Pronunciation

• (British) IPA: /ˈeɪlwʌɪf/
• (America) IPA: /ˈeɪlˌwaɪf/

Noun

alewife (plural alewives)

1. (archaic) A woman who keeps an alehouse.

Synonyms

• brewess

Noun

alewife (plural alewives)

1. A migrating North American fish, Alosa pseudoharengus.
   • 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter I. "The Shipwreck", page 14.

     I saw in Cohasset, separated from the sea only by a narrow beach, a handsome but shallow lake of some four hundred acres […] , and, after the alewives had passed into it, it had stopped up its outlet, and now the alewives were dying by thousands, and the inhabitants were apprehending a pestilence as the water evaporated.

2. Any of several species similar in appearance.

Synonyms

• (Alosa pseudoharengus) branch herring, ellwhop, ellwife, Canada gaspereau

Translations

• French: patronne
• German: Wirtin, Schankwirtin
• Italian: proprietaria di una birreria
• Spanish: tabernera, cervecera

Translations

• French: gaspareau, gasparot
• German: Großaugenhering
• Russian: сероспинка
• Spanish: pinchagua

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