alewife

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ale·wife 1

 (āl′wīf′)
n. pl. ale·wives (-wīvz′)
A fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) of North American Atlantic waters and some inland lakes, which swims up rivers to spawn.

[Originally North American English, probably from alteration (influenced by alewife, because the fish's relatively big belly distinguishes it from the herring) of obsolete English aloes, allowes, a type of shad (Alosa alosa), from French alose, shad, from Old French, from Late Latin alausa, of Gaulish origin.]

ale·wife 2

 (āl′wīf′)
n. pl. ale·wives (-wīvz′)
A woman who keeps an alehouse.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

alewife

(ˈeɪlˌwaɪf)
n, pl -wives
(Animals) a North American fish, Pomolobus pseudoharengus, similar to the herring Clupea harengus: family Clupeidae (herrings)
[C19: perhaps an alteration (through influence of alewife, that is, a large rotund woman, alluding to the fish's shape) of French alose shad]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ale•wife1

(ˈeɪlˌwaɪf)

n., pl. -wives.
a North American fish, Alosa pseudoharengus, similar to a shad.
[1625–35, Amer.; earlier allowes, perhaps influenced by alewife2, probably < French alose shad < Gallo-Latin alausa]

ale•wife2

(ˈeɪlˌwaɪf)

n., pl. -wives.
a woman who owns or operates an alehouse.
[1350–1400]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.alewife - flesh of shad-like fish abundant along the Atlantic coast or in coastal streamsalewife - flesh of shad-like fish abundant along the Atlantic coast or in coastal streams
Alosa pseudoharengus, Pomolobus pseudoharengus, alewife - shad-like food fish that runs rivers to spawn; often salted or smoked; sometimes placed in genus Pomolobus
fish - the flesh of fish used as food; "in Japan most fish is eaten raw"; "after the scare about foot-and-mouth disease a lot of people started eating fish instead of meat"; "they have a chef who specializes in fish"
2.alewife - shad-like food fish that runs rivers to spawnalewife - shad-like food fish that runs rivers to spawn; often salted or smoked; sometimes placed in genus Pomolobus
clupeid, clupeid fish - any of numerous soft-finned schooling food fishes of shallow waters of northern seas
alewife - flesh of shad-like fish abundant along the Atlantic coast or in coastal streams
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
References in classic literature ?
But of my own knowledge, I know that down to the year sharks and shad, alewives and herring, against Linnaeus's express edict, were still found dividing the possession of the same seas with the Leviathan.
"The waters of lower Green Bay heat up above 70[degrees]F and temperature-sensitive forage such as alewives and smelt migrate north to the upper Bay.
Homing of alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (A.
Also known as river herring, alewives are anadromous--meaning they spend the majority of their life in the Atlantic Ocean, only entering estuaries and freshwater tributaries along the eastern coast of the U.S.
Continuing the discussion of power relations and tensions introduced in Chapter 1 and inherent in the role of Chapter 2's craft searcher, the third and fourth chapters ('Fair Trade' and 'Spinsters, Labourers and Alewives: Women's Work in Chester') examine the 'threefold nexus of identity and power encompassing merchants, artisans, and servants/journeymen/apprentices' (p.
Restoring passage for dwindling populations of important forage fish will support the recovery of not only alewives and herring, but the region's iconic ground-fish populations as well.
(1) For example, in chapter 4, 'Spinsters, Laborers, and Alewives: the Regulation of Women's Work in Chester', the authors do not acknowledge that all the surviving manuscripts of the full text of Chester postdate any performance by at least sixteen years.
Two species of river herring, alewives and blueback herring, are critical components of marine food webs, right up to the fishermen on shore and at sea who harvest them.
Shane fishes live alewives, which he freelines with just a 3-inch piece of light leader wire and a light-wire bait hook.
Work may be gridlocked across town on Capitol Hill, but there's no stopping the unfurling of the skunk cabbage leaves or the return of the alewives to Rock Creek.
There was a slight fishiness to the air; dead alewives, which I had learned were shiny, silver fish, thin but as long as a ruler, that washed up dead along the lakeshore every spring.
"Swimming Home" is a beautiful, lushly illustrated book about the mysterious swimming migration of alewives, from the Tilbury House Nature Book series for young readers.