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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

back alley en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. An alleyway that runs behind a row of houses, or between rows of houses.
    • Near-synonym: bylane
    • Apocalypse also happens to be a Fagin figure, shuffling around the back alleys of Cairo, where he makes the weather-controlling pickpocket Storm (Alexandra Shipp) his first follower by offering her baubles. 2016 May 23, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “Apocalypse pits the strengths of the X-Men series against the weaknesses”, in The Onion AV Club:
  2. (euphemistic, slang) The anus.
    • RALPH: This dress is not made for a big boy. It's going right up the back alley there. 2018, Ralph Breaks the Internet (film)
    • Nobody goes up my back alley without a rubber on and I don't do heroin, so what's the worry? 1991, Mack Tanner, The Stalker, page 178:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
back alleys Number=Plur lexicographic

Coordinates

bystreet · back road · back street · byroad

Deriveds

back-alley

Hypernyms

way · lane · alley · byway

Synonyms

backway · bylane · back lane

Translations (8)

la sēmitārius (an alleyway that runs behind a row of houses) · pl zaułek (an alleyway that runs behind a row of houses) · fr couloir à lentilles (the anus) · fr entrée de service (the anus) · fr entrée des artistes (the anus) · fr porte de derrière (the anus) · pl tyłek (the anus) · fr ruelle (an alleyway that runs behind a row of houses)