Definition of alewife
:a woman who keeps an alehouse
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First Known Use of alewife
15th century
Definition of alewife
plural alewives
play
\-ˌwīvz\
:a food fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) of the herring family that is very abundant along the Atlantic coast;
also
:any of several related fishes (such as the menhaden)
Origin and Etymology of alewife
perhaps alteration of obsolete allowes, a kind of shad, from French alose shad, from Old French, from Late Latin alausa
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