Dictionary

ale-pole en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of alepole.
   alt of alepole
   • The bush is occasionally shown in old pictures, and on the Bayeux tapestry will be found a representation of a building adorned with an ale-pole. 1892 July, Thomas H. B. Graham, “The Malt Liquors of the English”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 273, page 55:
   • Now, a wise man will tell him that he playeth the fool, for the ale-pole doth but signifie that there is good ale in the house where the ale-pole standeth, and will tell him that he muste go near the house and there he shall find the drinke,, and not stand sucking the ale-pole in vayne." 1889, Legh Richmond, The Fathers of the English Church:
   • By the time he finally spotted the protruding ale-pole, Gilbert Fitz John had gotten his boots thoroughly muddied, almost had his money pouch stolen by a nimble-fingered thief, and had been forced to fend off so many beggars and harlots that he doubted he'd reach the Rutting Stag with either his purse or his honour intact. 2010, Sharon Kay Penman, When Christ and His Saints Slept:
   • By the end of Elizabeth's reign, however, the ale-pole was starting to lose ground. 1983, Peter Clark, The English Alehouse: A Social History 1200-1830, page 68:
   • I know, pole-axeman (or ale-pole haunter?), she pulled the wool over your eyes 2012, Greg Walker, John Skelton: Everyman Poetry:

Forms