alley
Appearance
See also: Alley
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English aley, from Old French alee, feminine of alé, past participle of aler (“to go”) (French aller). Doublet of allée.
Noun
[edit]alley (plural alleys)
- A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.
- Synonyms: alleyway; see also Thesaurus:alley
- The parking lot to my friend's apartment building is in the alley.
- (baseball) The area between the outfielders.
- Synonym: gap
- He hit one deep into the alley.
- (bowling) An establishment where bowling is played.
- Synonym: bowling alley
- (bowling) An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled.
- Synonym: lane
- (tennis) The extra area between the sidelines or tramlines on a tennis court that is used for doubles matches.
- A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
- I know each lane and every alley green.
- A passageway between rows of pews in a church.
- (perspective drawing) Any passage having the entrance represented as wider than the exit, so as to give the appearance of length.
- The space between two rows of compositors' stands in a printing office.
- (informal, rare) A group of clowns; the collective noun for clowns.
- 2017, Charles William Jefford, Academia Nuts, page 78:
- […] alley of clowns had sprung like a fungus growth from the dung heap of the First World War.
- 2021, T. K. Wrathbone, All Clowns Must Die!:
- “ […] Something must've happened to him when he was little.”
“Which would give him a reason to hate them,” Oliver replied and was pushed aside by an alley of clowns. “Hey!”
“Sorry, kid. Didn't see you there,” one clown called over.
Derived terms
[edit]- alley apple
- alley ball
- alley cat
- alley crop
- alleyed
- alleygating
- alleylike
- alley stone
- alleyway
- back-alley
- back alley
- ball alley
- blind alley
- bowling alley
- Carolina Alley
- Dixie Alley
- down someone's alley
- Hailstorm Alley
- handball alley
- Hoosier Alley
- Hurricane Alley
- kilowatt alley
- MiG Alley
- O'Malley's Alley
- peacock alley
- Peacock Alley
- power alley
- right up someone's alley
- shaft alley
- sideshow alley
- skittle alley
- South Alley
- Stroke Alley
- Tornado Alley
- Typhoon Alley
- up someone's alley
Translations
[edit]narrow street
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Etymology 2
[edit]Diminutive of alabaster, from which they were once made.
Noun
[edit]alley (plural alleys)
- A marble (small ball used in games).
Derived terms
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/æli
- Rhymes:English/æli/2 syllables
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Baseball
- en:Bowling
- en:Tennis
- English terms with quotations
- English informal terms
- English terms with rare senses
- en:Roads