Dictionary

alekeeper en · NOUN

Etymology

From ale + keeper.

Meanings

1. An alehouse-keeper, a person who operates an alehouse; a tavernkeeper, an alekeep.
   • The word appears in a defamation case from Somerset in 1600 as an insult directed toward an alekeeper's wife: "she fucketh in every corner with every knave that cometh to thy house." 2015, Valerie Traub, Thinking Sex with the Early Moderns, University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 190:
   • But that Friday morning there was an air of intensity about them that made her rein in Melissa and dismount. They were so engrossed in their discussion that they hadn't seen her ride up, until the alekeeper's wife, Biddy Tomkins, turned round ... 2015, Iris Collier, Day Of Wrath, Piatkus, →ISBN:

Forms