Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) closely related to the herrings and native to North American Atlantic waters and some inland lakes.
- n. A woman who keeps an alehouse.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A woman who keeps an ale-house.
- n. A North American fish, Clupea vernalis, from 8 to 10 inches long, resembling a small shad, but much inferior to it as food. It is taken in large numbers with that fish.
- n. A name given at Bermuda to the round pompano, Trachynotus ovatus. See pompano.
- n. A local English name of the allice-shad.
Wiktionary
- n. A woman who keeps an alehouse.
- n. A North American fish (Clupea vernalis) of the herring family.
- n. A migrating North American fish, Alosa pseudoharengus.
- n. Any of several species similar in appearance.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A woman who keeps an alehouse.
- n. A North American fish (Clupea vernalis) of the Herring family. It is called also
ellwife ,ellwhop ,branch herring . The name is locally applied to other related species.
WordNet 3.0
- n. flesh of shad-like fish abundant along the Atlantic coast or in coastal streams
- n. shad-like food fish that runs rivers to spawn; often salted or smoked; sometimes placed in genus Pomolobus
Etymologies
- Probably alteration (influenced by alewife2) of obsolete allowes, a type of shad, from French alose, shad, from Old French, from Late Latin alausa.
Examples
“We witnessed the alewife spawning migration so many springs, and suddenly the population became depleted.”
“We were eager to act and be involved in the alewife restoration -- later on with the salmon restoration -- but funds were limited.”
“He and his committee continued working, drafting regulations of the shad and alewife harvest.”
“Keep in mind that the lake trout are native and the salmon and steelhead were brought in to eat the invasive alewife.”
Over the years I have seen what was once a florishing ecosystem of fish survive.
“Seems that Lake Michigan gobie population densities are increasing, while alewife and sculpin populations are decreasing, with overall prey fish populations decreasing, affecting salmon, steelhead, and lake trout.”
Over the years I have seen what was once a florishing ecosystem of fish survive.
“You'd see/smell why if you were at a beach during an alewife die off.”
Over the years I have seen what was once a florishing ecosystem of fish survive.
“You then pull the rubber band back about 100 feet and attach your line with a night crawler or a piece of cut bait (alewife) and let it dangle.”
“The NRDC is spearheading an effort to get river herring (shorthand here for blueback herring and alewife) listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, while the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) showed overwhelming support for new efforts to protect and rebuild the decimated menhaden stock.”
“Ironically, the alewife is an invasive species in the Great Lakes.”
The Huffington Post: Andrew Wetzler: Wildlife Roundup: the Good News
“Geordie asked her for some coins and she handed them to him, distracted by the discussion with the alewife.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘alewife’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1051 more...
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On with their heads!
Words that make other words with the addition of one letter at the beginning. The resulting words are tagged "behead".
men, his, yes, any, iota, limb, aged, laid, land, lead, read, word and 315 more...
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Wives
alewife, fishwife, midwife, kalewife, goodwife, housewife, oldwife, old wives' tale, wife, wives, husband and wife, man and wife and 16 more...
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Herring
herring, pickled herring, red herring, bloater, herring-buss, herring-fishery, herring pond, herring-pond, whitebait, herringbone, herring-bone, buss and 49 more...
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