alleyn.¹

Brit.

/ˈali/, U.S.

/ˈæli/

Inflections: Plural alleys, (rare) allies;

Forms: Middle English alay, Middle English aleis (plural), Middle English allee, Middle English–1500s aleye, Middle English–1500s alie, Middle English (in a late copy)–1500s aly, Middle English–1600s aley, Middle English– alley, 1500s alaye, 1500s alleis (plural), 1500s allie, 1500s allye, 1500s–1700s ally, 1500s– allies (plural); also Scottish pre-1700 ailay, pre-1700 aillay, pre-1700 ala, pre-1700 alais (plural), pre-1700 alay, pre-1700 aleis (plural), pre-1700 alie, pre-1700 alla, pre-1700 allay, pre-1700 alleis (plural).

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French alee.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman alé, alei, aleie, allei, Anglo-Norman and Middle French alee, Middle French allee (French allée ) way, path (c1275 or earlier, earlier in sense ‘action of walking’ (c1170 in Old French)), (in a building) gallery, hallway (late 13th cent.) narrow street or lane (14th cent.), (figurative) way (of achieving something) (1354 or earlier), rampart walk (a1372), use as noun of the feminine past participle of aller to go (see allons int.). Compare post-classical Latin alea, aleia, aleya, alleia covered walkway, rampart walk, passageway, lane (frequently from 13th cent. in British and continental sources).

I. A narrow lane or passage.

1. A passage between buildings; a narrow street or lane, esp. one wide enough only for pedestrians; a back lane.In Britain (esp. English regional (northern)) often denoting a narrow lane running behind rows of houses. In America also formerly applied to a narrow roadway which intersects or runs parallel to a larger lane or street. N.E.D. (1884) notes: ‘in U.S. applied to what in London is called a Mews’, but evidence for this is lacking.Frequently with prefixed word forming the proper name of an alley, or designating an alley (real or notional) or a district having a particular character, as Pepper, Silicon, Tin Pan Alley, etc.: see the first element.back, blind, service alley, etc.: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > lane > [noun] > between buildings

twitchenOE

chare12..

shut1300

alley1360

entryc1405

wyndc1425

vennel1435

trance1545

row1599

ginnel1669

ruelle1679

gangway1785

pend close1819

ope1825

jitty1836

scutchell1847

gully1849

bolt1855

opeway1881

snicket1898

jigger1902

jowler1961

1360–1 in R. R. Sharpe Cal. Wills Court of Husting (1890) II. 16 (MED) [In a certain] aleye [in the parish].

c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 1 (MED) The weyes and the aleyes of thilke citee..weren paved with gold.

?1518 Cocke Lorelles Bote sig. B.iiij Also in ave maria aly and at westmenster And some in shordyche.

1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued sig. G.j^v The Alleys, Lanes, yea open streates, and places all about Are now replenisht with such stuffe, and filthy broken ware.

1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 12 The buildings meane, the streets no larger than allies.

1687 London Gaz. mmccxcviii/4 In a paved Alley near St. Sepulchres Church in London.

1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 200 The Mortality was..great in the Yard or Alley.

1729 in First Rec. Baltimore Town (1905) 10 The commissioners..shall cause the same Sixty Acres to be..divided into convenient Streets, Lanes, and Allies, as near as may be into Sixty equal lots.

1772 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. (1790) III. 305 The lower streets and chares or alleys are extremely narrow.

1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Leila i. v. 34 He..continued his way with rapid strides, through various courts and alleys.

1883 Overland Monthly Nov. 455 We went through the slums of Chinatown: into the alleys, the opium-cellars, the crowded houses.

1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-four 87 The alley led out into the main street.

1981 A. Schlee Rhine Journey viii. 107 She took the next turning to the left down an alley so narrow that the sun could not penetrate between the tall houses.

2010 T. Deary Put out Lights 104 The girl wandered down the shadowy alley towards the rubbish bins at the back of the shops.

†2.

a. A (private) corridor, hallway, or covered walkway. Obsolete (but cf. sense 6c).

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > passage or corridor > [noun]

alley1363

tresance1428

passagea1525

gallery1541

trance1545

through-passage1575

lobby1596

passageway?1606

conduit1624

gangway1702

vista1708

glidec1710

aisle1734

gallery1756

corridor1814

traverse1822

heck1825

rotunda1847

scutchell1847

zaguan1851

aisleway1868

pend1893

dogtrot1901

fairway1903

dog run1904

dog walk1938

walkout1947

coulisse1949

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > ambulatory > portico or arcade

alurec1325

alley1363

gallerya1500

aluring1501

cloisterc1540

pawn1548

stoa1603

portico1607

row1610

porticus1617

corridor1620

piazza1642

xystus1664

arcade1731

veranda1873

1363–4 in W. H. St. J. Hope Windsor Castle (1913) I. 208 (MED) Pro celura cujusdam capella, le Bathous, et unius Aley.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Ezek. xlii. 7 And the vtmer aley [a1425 L.V. halle; L. peribolus] after the tresories..the lengthe therof of fyfty cubitis.

1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 116 For ther was nomore..but a litil aleye from her chambre to his.

1520 Chron. Eng. vii. f. 115^v/2 An aleye that stretcheth out of the warde under the erth into the forsayd castell.

1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. cxvi. [cxii.] 334 The aley vnder couert endured fro their garyson a seuen or eight leages.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 77^v Mony long chaumbur, Goand vp by degres þurgh mony gay alys.

b. = alure n. Obsolete.

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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > other elements > [noun] > gallery round roof

alurec1325

aluring1412

alleya1425

a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 110 Þe fend..putte him above þe pynacle of þe temple: þat sum men seyen weren þe aleis [L. deambulatoria].

3. A walk or passage in a garden, park, wood, etc., usually bordered with trees or bushes. Also: a narrow space between beds or rows of flowers or plants. Cf. allée n.The reading in quot. a1382 probably shows a transmission error for valeyes, plural of valley n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > garden > division or part of garden > [noun] > walk

alleyc1405

alurea1450

mount1591

vista1671

crazy paving1923

tapis vert1960

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > foot(-)path > in a garden or pleasure-ground

alleyc1405

alurea1450

walk1533

lead1590

paddock1678

walkway1792

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > foot(-)path > in a garden or pleasure-ground > shaded or bordered by trees

alleyc1405

arbour1573

walk1596

porticus1617

frescade1656

pergola?1664

portico1666

cradle-walka1684

berceau1699

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Song of Sol. ii. 1 I am the flour of the feeld, and the lilie of aleyes [v.r. the lilie of alle valeys; a1425 L.V. a lilye of grete valeis; L. lilium convallium].]

c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 305 And in the Aleyes [v.rr. aleyes, aleyeis, aleyies] romeden vp and doun.

1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) xi. l. 21 Hagis, [1570 Lekprevik Hedgis and] alais, be laubour that was thar, Fulȝeit and spilt.

1538 T. Elyot Dict. at Hypætra An aley in a gardayne.

1568 T. Hill Proffitable Arte Gardening (rev. ed.) i. vi. f. 14^v The which Alleis & walkes you shall sifte ouer with the finest sand.

1594 H. Plat Diuerse Sorts of Soyle 48 in Jewell House Throughout all the allies of his hop garden.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. vii. xxi. 527 The allies that lie between the beds.

1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) xlvi. 277 These closer alleys must be ever finely gravelled.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 118/2 Allies, or Walks well Gravelled.

1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 14 Sept. (1965) I. 268 At the end of a fine Alley in her Garden.

1763 J. Mills New Syst. Pract. Husbandry II. 18 The fallow here is..interposed by means of alleys, which are the part rested.

1855 ‘E. S. Delamer’ Kitchen Garden 41 Beds four feet in width, with a foot-wide alley between each bed.

1867 M. E. Braddon R. Godwin I. i. 4 Under the shelter of a long alley of hazel and filbert trees.

1929 S. Leslie Anglo-Catholic ix. 108 A magnificent park, set with three-mile alleys of elm.

1986 Grower 6 Nov. 12/1 Multi-row beds..are quicker to spray and pick because they have far fewer alleys.

2005 J. Lang Urban Design v. 106/2 Alleys of trees link the major activity sites of the park.

4. figurative and in extended use. A (notional) way or course; something resembling a narrow passage, lane, or street. Chiefly with of.

ΚΠ

1413 T. Hoccleve Balade Richard II l. 45 in Minor Poems (1970) i. 49 Men erren & forueye, Walkynge blyndly in the dirk aleye Of heresie.

1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. xviij/2 He made in his hows alleyes and conduytes for water to renne in.

1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 67 The naturall gates and allies of the body.

1694 tr. G. P. Marana Lett. Turkish Spy VII. xii. 246 The Stars, those little Bullies of the Sky..skulk about i'th' Dark, through all the private Alleys of the Firmament.

1733 W. Havard Scanderberg v. iv. 65 The fierce Pow'r That springs thro' ev'ry Alley of the Soul, To bring in melting Joy.

1763 A. Tucker Freewill 62 We are now striking into another alley, and starting a different question.

1789 ‘A. Pasquin’ Poems I. 99 When meek Discretion, whisp'ring, spoke her fears, Love's regent shut the alleys of her ears.

1854 Ladies' Repository Mar. 113/1 Such men as Franklin, who have abandoned the by-paths and alleys of life, and carved..broad highways to fortune, distinction, and renown.

1885 Browning Soc. Papers 1885–6 7 (Monthly Abstr. section) 29 It proceeds..without any noteworthy divergencies into obscure bye-paths and alleys of thought and abstruse speculation.

1907 Outing Aug. 530/2 It haunted the alleys of my brain for days after.

1977 Cincinnati Aug. 31/1 In the dusky, low-down nighttime alley of his soul, he knows he was born to be a gamblin' man.

2008 R. Shorto Descartes' Bones 17 How could one of the greatest minds in history get itself into such convoluted alleys of reasoning?

2010 New Yorker 27 Sept. 18/1 Ginsberg's shadowy ‘angel-headed hipsters’ lunging through the skyscrapers and alleys of modern experience.

5. More generally: a narrow passageway or gangway between a group of things, people, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, passage, or means of access to a place > [noun] > between lines of persons or things

streetc1384

lane1525

alley1631

alleyway1788

gangway1788

aisle1789

lokeway1888

1631 C. Aleyn Battailes Crescey & Poictiers sig. E3^v Here Edward fought, and there the French men fly, Whilst he an alley through their quarters made.

1655 in Edmondes' Comm. of Julius Cæsar (rev. ed.) v. vi. 106/2 These two cohorts standing with a small alley between them.

1769 D'Alenzon tr. ‘Hoamchi-Vam’ Bonze I. 9 They crept trembling through an alley of rocks, where on each side uprose broken and irregular walls.

1782 J. Warton Ess. on Pope (new ed.) II. viii. 92 It is a description of an alley of fishwomen.

1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxv. 329 We were in an alley of pounded ice-masses.

1868 Galaxy July 12 He passed along the narrow alley between the seats and the wall of the drawing-room.

1907 Fibre & Fabric 10 Aug. 2/2 A weaver's seat..rolls on rails in the alley between the looms.

1955 Times 7 Nov. 12/6 The big vehicles..nearly always leave a little alley on the extreme left which is just the right width for a bicycle.

2011 R. Hansen Wild Surge Guilty Passion 232 It took ten minutes before police could form an alley wide enough for passage through the wild and raucous crowd.

II. Specific and technical uses.

a. A passage between the rows of pews or seats in a church; esp. such a passage running down the centre of the nave; = aisle n. 3a.Not always distinguishable from sense 6b.Aisle is now the usual term. N.E.D. (1884) gives this sense as current in English regional (northern) use, and notes: ‘In the south corruptly replaced by Aisle.’

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > aisle or passage > [noun]

alley1497

pace1499

going1516

aisle1646

pass1871

alure1878

1497 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1869) IV. 240 (note) Sep. in eccl. de Gamelyngey ad finem tumbæ le Avenellis, in le crosse aley.

1527 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 252 (note) [To be buried] in the myd aley before the rode.

1558 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 180 To be buried in the mydde allie before the quere dore.

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1295 Temples, which in some places have faire open Isles and pleasant allies.

1683 J. Oldham Poems & Transl. 193 Turn out there, Friend! (cries one at Church) the Pew Is not for such mean scoundrel Curs, as you..Mean while you in the Alley stand, and sneak.

a1743 J. Relph Misc. of Poems (1747) 76 Oh how my heart would lowp for joy To lead her up the ally.

1776 J. Wesley Jrnl. 15 Apr. in Extract from Jrnl. (1788) XVIII. 15 The church was so crowded, pews, alleys, and galleries.

1806 Intelligencer (Lancaster, Pa.) 21 Oct. Mr. Deming was sitting in the Pew east of the broad Alley.

1875 E. G. Harvey Mullyon 28 At one period it was moreover necessary to protect ones feet by India-rubber goloshes or iron pattens from the frequent pools of water lying in the alleys between the pews.

1910 W. Raymond Eng. Country Life (1911) xxv. 299 Mrs. William Purchase led the way up the centre alley to the square pew in front of the pulpit with unimpaired dignity.

2004 R. Tuck Churches Nova Scotia xv. 121 At the chancel steps, pulpit and lectern flanked a central alley dividing cantoris and decani stalls.

†b. Any of the more or less linear areas into which a large church is divided; spec. one extending parallel to the main body of the church; = aisle n. 1. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > wing or aisle > [noun]

aisle1398

eyling1400

alley1563

1563 Bp. J. Pilkington Burnynge of Paules Church sig. G.v The south alley for vsurye and Poperye, the north for Simony,..and the font for ordinary paimentes of money.

1731 J. Derby Let. 13 Nov. in Philos. Trans. 1739–40 (Royal Soc.) (1742) 41 229 The Leads and Timber of great Part of the North Alley of the Church was broke in.

c. Any of the (usually four) more or less linear areas into which a cloister is divided.

ΚΠ

1672 J. Davies Anc. Rites Durham 93 The Bishops of Durham were wont..to be interr'd in the foresaid Chapter-house, standing in the East-Alley of the Cloysters.

1786 R. Beatniffe Norfolk Tour (ed. 4) 56 When Queen Elizabeth visited Norwich in 1578, she dined in public in the North alley of the cloister.

1792 Hist. & Antiq. Glastonbury 20 In another alley of the cloyster stood the Fratery.

1817 J. Storer Hist. & Antiq. Cathedral Churches of Great Brit. III. 17 The chapter-house is approached from the eastern alley of the cloister.

1872 Fraser's Mag. Jan. 54/2 In the north alley of the cloisters..you may read the proverbial Miserrimus over a grave.

1912 E. Singleton How to Visit Eng. Cathedrals 199 The monks' lavatory occupies two bays in the north alley.

1995 J. Butler Quest for Becket's Bones (1996) i. 4 (caption) The southern alley of the cloisters.

7. A long narrow lane used for playing bowls, skittles, or similar games. Also: an enclosed area or building containing such a lane or lanes. In early use also in figurative contexts.ball, bowl, bowling, skittle, ten-pin alley, etc.: see the first element.

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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > ninepins or ten-pins > [noun] > alley

ball-alley1440

alley1541

bowling-alley1555

bowl-alley1628

ninepin yard1665

ninepin alley1682

ten-pin alley1835

lane1960

1541–2 Act 33 Henry VIII c. 9 in Statutes of Realm (1963) III. 839 Any common house alley or place of bowlinge Coytinge Cloyshe Cayles halfe bowle Tennis Dysing Table or Cardinge.

c1560 (a1500) Squyr Lowe Degre (Copland) 804 An hundreth knightes, truly tolde, Shall play with bowles in alayes colde.

1594 H. Plat Jewell House 2 The aire will be a player, vnlesse you can keepe it out of the Alley perforce.

1615 G. Markham Countrey Contentments 109 Your flat bowles being best for allies, your round byazed bowles for open grounds.

1661 S. Pepys Diary 5 June (1970) II. 115 Sir W. Penn and I went home with Sir R. Slingsby to bowles in his ally.

1737 W. Pardon Dyche's New Gen. Eng. Dict. (ed. 2) at Mall The Alley as well as the Game and the Instrument is called the Mall.

1775 B. Romans Conc. Nat. Hist. E. & W. Florida 80 They make an alley of about two hundred feet in length,..one holds a stone, which is in shape of a truck, which he throws before him over this alley.

1849 Penny Ilustrated News 27 Oct. 3/2 The alley in which the game is played consists of a narrow platform of timber, elevated three or four inches above the floor.

1895 Outing 26 444/1 You rush to the bottom like a ten-pin ball sent spinning down its alley.

1940 Life 19 Feb. 52/1 There are 15,000,000 bowlers in the U.S. Most of them..bowl once a week on their neighborhood alleys.

1976 Burnham-on-Sea Gaz. 20 Apr. 21/4 Enmore Inn..must now meet Jokers tonight..in a play-off for the Stogursey and District Ladies' Skittles League championship on the First and Last alley.

2000 M. Benson Essent. Bowling 78 Roventini..bowled his perfect series..on Lanes 3 and 4 of the sixteen-lane alley just outside Milwaukee.

8. With the and capital initial. = Exchange Alley n. historical after 18th cent.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > financial centre

street1555

rialto1600

city1621

alley1720

Lombard Street1721

money centre1838

Wall Street1841

1720 J. Trenchard Compar. Proposals of Bank & South-Sea Company 9 I take the less Notice of the little Jobbing Tricks play'd, and Reports given about in the Alley, to raise Stock.

1775 J. Ash New Dict. Eng. Lang. Alley..the place in the city of London where the public funds are bought and sold.

1854 J. Capper in Househ. Words 28 Jan. 519/2 Half a million sterling was raised amongst the men of the ‘Alley’.

1887 Jrnl. Inst. Bankers Apr. 190 The most noted house in the Alley was ‘Garraway's’, at No. 3.

1914 G. O. Trevelyan George III & Charles Fox II. xxii. 320 The brokers who sold and bought in The Alley..numbered less than a twentieth part of the army of operators which now throngs the Stock Exchange.

2011 H. J. Paul South Sea Bubble 99 Coffeehouses, alehouses and shops lined every part of the Alley.

†9. Zoology. The ambulacrum of an echinoderm. Obsolete.Chiefly in glosses of scientific Latin ambulacrum as used by Linnaeus (see the etymology at ambulacrum n.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [noun] > member of > parts of > ambulacrum

alley1835

1835 W. Kirby On Power of God in Creation of Animals I. vi. 208 Those parts (of the shell of sea urchins) void of spines called the alleys.

1871 W. S. W. Ruschenberger Elem. Nat. Hist. vi. v. 62 (caption) The family contains thirteen genera, which are distinguished from each other by the form and size of the ambulacra (alleys).

10. Printing. In a printing office: a space between two compositors' stands, or between two printing presses. Now disused.

ΚΠ

1871 Amer. Encycl. Printing 27/2 Alley, the space between two opposite stands or frames. This is also sometimes called a corner.

1890 Amer. Bookmaker Oct. 123/1 This..practice..compels the compositor who is hunting spaces from alley to alley to stop another workman at case while he is spacing out his line.

1920 Inland Printer June 332/2 Every compositor works in his own alley, and the alley is completely equipped with certain faces of display type.

1970 R. K. Kent Lang. Journalism 25 Alley, an aisle in a printshop or composing room between type cabinets or typesetting machines.

11. Tennis (chiefly North American). The strip between the singles and doubles sidelines on each side of the court. Cf. tramline n. 2.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > racket games > lawn tennis > [noun] > court > parts of

baseline1875

centreline1882

runback1891

alley1904

cover1907

no man's land1931

tramline1937

ad court1946

1904 J. P. Paret Lawn Tennis 334 Alley, a slang expression defining the strip of court lying between the sidelines for singles and doubles.

1932 W. Faulkner Sartoris iii. ii. 187 I kept on letting 'em get my alley.

1986 New Yorker 13 Oct. 124/1 She lost the point when she hit a loose forehand volley into the alley.

2000 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 6 Feb. 7 At deuce in the final game, Ullyett fired a backhand service return winner down the alley.

Phrases

to be (right) up (also down) one's alley: to be well suited to one's tastes, interests, or abilities; = to be up (down, †in) one's street at street n. and adj. Phrases 8.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > suitability or appropriateness > be suitable, appropriate, or suit [verb (intransitive)] > suit a person

to sit loose1591

to be up (down, in) one's street1903

to be (right) up (also down) one's alley1922

to meet up with1972

1922 H. Broun Boy grew Older viii. 268 I'd like to have him come out with me and do notes of the games... That would be down his alley.

1931 M. E. Gilman Sob Sister v. 65 It's about time a good murder broke, and this one is right up your alley.

1941 W. H. Auden New Year Let. ii. p. 37 All vague idealistic art That coddles the uneasy heart, Is up his alley.

1965 New Statesman 9 Apr. 583/2 Its slogans and chirpy recommendations are right up her spiritual alley.

1983 ‘Trevanian’ Summer of Katya (1984) 164 I'll help Katya with the wine. More down my alley.

2009 M. Muhammed Scared Silent v. 59 I spotted an ad in the paper for a job that seemed right up my alley.

Compounds

C1. General attributive and objective, as alley door, † alley maker, † alley making, alley wall, etc.

ΚΠ

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Aley maker, Topiarius. Aley makynge, Topiaria.

1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 107 The said shaft was laid along ouer the dores and vnder the pentises of one row of houses, and Alley gate.

1638 H. Adamson Muses Threnodie 5 His alley bowles, his curling stones: Which to the gods are consecrate.

1792 J. Morgan Attorney's Vade Mecum (new ed.) III. 280 The water..overflowed and greatly damaged, spoiled, injured, and broke to pieces, the said mill.., in divers parts thereof, to wit, in the wheels, alley boards, cogs and rungs thereof.

1821 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 24 Nov. 3/1 We again caution our citizens to keep their front doors and alley gates fastened in their absence.

1856 Knickerbocker Mar. 278 Occasionally the car is brought to a full stop, and the ‘standees’ are thrown against each other like alley-pins by a ‘ten-strike’.

1876 Leicester Chron. & Leics. Mercury 6 Feb. 2/6 Her son immediately missed a coat of the alley door.

1899 Science 22 Dec. 933/2 The investigation of the alley houses and slums.

1953 R. Graves Poems 18 Tatter-eared and slinking alley-toms.

1993 Guardian 23 June 1/6 A teenager knifed a stranger to death in an alley attack to get himself ‘put away’, Bristol crown court was told yesterday.

2010 W. Ryan Holy Thief 179 The sergeant..leaned against the alley wall breathing heavily.

C2.

alley apple n. U.S. slang (a) a rock, stone, or piece of rubble found in an alley and used as a missile; (b) a piece of horse manure; cf. road apples n. at road n. Compounds 6 (now rare and historical).

ΚΠ

1913 Indiana (Pa.) Evening Gaz. 20 Oct. 1/2 Insulted at this rude reception, O'Sullivan walked out of the hotel, picked up a number of ‘alley apples’ and used the hotel windows as targets.

1934 Sun (Baltimore) 7 Dec. 28/3 For the next sixty days..a brick-tossing seaman can sit in a cell in the City Jail and regret his marksmanship with an ‘alley apple’.

1960 H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 3/2 Alley apple,..a piece of horse manure.

1987 Eng. Today July 41/2 Alley apple is long gone, along with the equine emissions it described.

2011 D. T. Hardison Officer's Love Story xxix. 553 We bombarded them with the rice like we were throwing alley apples.

alley crop n. Agriculture a crop raised between rows of trees or shrubs (typically leguminous ones); cf. alley cropping n.

ΚΠ

1981 Ann. Rep. 1980 (Internat. Inst. Trop. Agric.) 41/2 If..the field were divided into 4 sections, three-fourths could be in alley crop production in any given year.

1995 New Scientist 29 July 13/3 ‘Alley crops’ act as windbreaks, prevent erosion, and retain moisture in the fields.

2006 R. Tripp Self-sufficient Agric. ii. 33 Several of the technologies described earlier, such as cover crops, alley crops and mulches, make important contributions to weed control.

alley cropping n. Agriculture a form of intercropping sometimes used in the tropics in which crop plants are grown between hedgerows of shrubs or trees (typically leguminous ones), which can provide animal fodder, fuel, shade, or soil improvement.

ΚΠ

1981 Ann. Rep. 1980 (Internat. Inst. Trop. Agric.) 32/1 Research in cropping systems..focused on the following areas: mixed cropping, alley cropping..and the role of agro-forestry.

1995 N. Hudson Soil Conservation (ed. 3) xi. 279 Continuing research..in Nigeria is demonstrating the long-term advantages of alley cropping using hedgerows of Leucaena and Gliricidia.

2004 Guardian 21 Apr. (Society section) 12/4 Although alley cropping has been widely used, it has not been done with the Inga tree, whose leaves were thought to be too tough to break down quickly.

alley farming n. Agriculture = alley cropping n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > [noun] > other systems of growing crops

water farming1811

catch-cropping1851

sharecropping1877

intercropping1898

intertillage1912

strip-cropping1936

alley farming1984

1984 Farmer's Jrnl. Jan. 74/1 One objective of this Programme is to evaluate an ‘alley farming system’ consisting of 4-metre alleys between rows of Leucaena or Gliricidia.

1993 New Scientist 1 May 44/2 No farmer in Ethiopia could reasonably embark on the excellent technique of alley-farming.

2004 C. R. Elevitch Overstory Bk. (ed. 2) 111/1 In lowland humid regions of the tropics where farm size is often small, the amount of forage generated from alley farming is very low.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	alley
释义	alleyn.¹ Brit. /ˈali/, U.S. /ˈæli/ Inflections: Plural alleys, (rare) allies; Forms: Middle English alay, Middle English aleis (plural), Middle English allee, Middle English–1500s aleye, Middle English–1500s alie, Middle English (in a late copy)–1500s aly, Middle English–1600s aley, Middle English– alley, 1500s alaye, 1500s alleis (plural), 1500s allie, 1500s allye, 1500s–1700s ally, 1500s– allies (plural); also Scottish pre-1700 ailay, pre-1700 aillay, pre-1700 ala, pre-1700 alais (plural), pre-1700 alay, pre-1700 aleis (plural), pre-1700 alie, pre-1700 alla, pre-1700 allay, pre-1700 alleis (plural). Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French alee. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman alé, alei, aleie, allei, Anglo-Norman and Middle French alee, Middle French allee (French allée ) way, path (c1275 or earlier, earlier in sense ‘action of walking’ (c1170 in Old French)), (in a building) gallery, hallway (late 13th cent.) narrow street or lane (14th cent.), (figurative) way (of achieving something) (1354 or earlier), rampart walk (a1372), use as noun of the feminine past participle of aller to go (see allons int.). Compare post-classical Latin alea, aleia, aleya, alleia covered walkway, rampart walk, passageway, lane (frequently from 13th cent. in British and continental sources). I. A narrow lane or passage. 1. A passage between buildings; a narrow street or lane, esp. one wide enough only for pedestrians; a back lane.In Britain (esp. English regional (northern)) often denoting a narrow lane running behind rows of houses. In America also formerly applied to a narrow roadway which intersects or runs parallel to a larger lane or street. N.E.D. (1884) notes: ‘in U.S. applied to what in London is called a Mews’, but evidence for this is lacking.Frequently with prefixed word forming the proper name of an alley, or designating an alley (real or notional) or a district having a particular character, as Pepper, Silicon, Tin Pan Alley, etc.: see the first element.back, blind, service alley, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > lane > [noun] > between buildings twitchenOE chare12.. shut1300 alley1360 entryc1405 wyndc1425 vennel1435 trance1545 row1599 ginnel1669 ruelle1679 gangway1785 pend close1819 ope1825 jitty1836 scutchell1847 gully1849 bolt1855 opeway1881 snicket1898 jigger1902 jowler1961 1360–1 in R. R. Sharpe Cal. Wills Court of Husting (1890) II. 16 (MED) [In a certain] aleye [in the parish]. c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 1 (MED) The weyes and the aleyes of thilke citee..weren paved with gold. ?1518 Cocke Lorelles Bote sig. B.iiij Also in ave maria aly and at westmenster And some in shordyche. 1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued sig. G.j^v The Alleys, Lanes, yea open streates, and places all about Are now replenisht with such stuffe, and filthy broken ware. 1615 G. Sandys Relation of Journey 12 The buildings meane, the streets no larger than allies. 1687 London Gaz. mmccxcviii/4 In a paved Alley near St. Sepulchres Church in London. 1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 200 The Mortality was..great in the Yard or Alley. 1729 in First Rec. Baltimore Town (1905) 10 The commissioners..shall cause the same Sixty Acres to be..divided into convenient Streets, Lanes, and Allies, as near as may be into Sixty equal lots. 1772 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. (1790) III. 305 The lower streets and chares or alleys are extremely narrow. 1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Leila i. v. 34 He..continued his way with rapid strides, through various courts and alleys. 1883 Overland Monthly Nov. 455 We went through the slums of Chinatown: into the alleys, the opium-cellars, the crowded houses. 1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-four 87 The alley led out into the main street. 1981 A. Schlee Rhine Journey viii. 107 She took the next turning to the left down an alley so narrow that the sun could not penetrate between the tall houses. 2010 T. Deary Put out Lights 104 The girl wandered down the shadowy alley towards the rubbish bins at the back of the shops. †2. a. A (private) corridor, hallway, or covered walkway. Obsolete (but cf. sense 6c). ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > passage or corridor > [noun] alley1363 tresance1428 passagea1525 gallery1541 trance1545 through-passage1575 lobby1596 passageway?1606 conduit1624 gangway1702 vista1708 glidec1710 aisle1734 gallery1756 corridor1814 traverse1822 heck1825 rotunda1847 scutchell1847 zaguan1851 aisleway1868 pend1893 dogtrot1901 fairway1903 dog run1904 dog walk1938 walkout1947 coulisse1949 society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > ambulatory > portico or arcade alurec1325 alley1363 gallerya1500 aluring1501 cloisterc1540 pawn1548 stoa1603 portico1607 row1610 porticus1617 corridor1620 piazza1642 xystus1664 arcade1731 veranda1873 1363–4 in W. H. St. J. Hope Windsor Castle (1913) I. 208 (MED) Pro celura cujusdam capella, le Bathous, et unius Aley. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Ezek. xlii. 7 And the vtmer aley [a1425 L.V. halle; L. peribolus] after the tresories..the lengthe therof of fyfty cubitis. 1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 116 For ther was nomore..but a litil aleye from her chambre to his. 1520 Chron. Eng. vii. f. 115^v/2 An aleye that stretcheth out of the warde under the erth into the forsayd castell. 1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. cxvi. [cxii.] 334 The aley vnder couert endured fro their garyson a seuen or eight leages. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 77^v Mony long chaumbur, Goand vp by degres þurgh mony gay alys. b. = alure n. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > other elements > [noun] > gallery round roof alurec1325 aluring1412 alleya1425 a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 110 Þe fend..putte him above þe pynacle of þe temple: þat sum men seyen weren þe aleis [L. deambulatoria]. 3. A walk or passage in a garden, park, wood, etc., usually bordered with trees or bushes. Also: a narrow space between beds or rows of flowers or plants. Cf. allée n.The reading in quot. a1382 probably shows a transmission error for valeyes, plural of valley n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > garden > division or part of garden > [noun] > walk alleyc1405 alurea1450 mount1591 vista1671 crazy paving1923 tapis vert1960 society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > foot(-)path > in a garden or pleasure-ground alleyc1405 alurea1450 walk1533 lead1590 paddock1678 walkway1792 society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > foot(-)path > in a garden or pleasure-ground > shaded or bordered by trees alleyc1405 arbour1573 walk1596 porticus1617 frescade1656 pergola?1664 portico1666 cradle-walka1684 berceau1699 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Song of Sol. ii. 1 I am the flour of the feeld, and the lilie of aleyes [v.r. the lilie of alle valeys; a1425 L.V. a lilye of grete valeis; L. lilium convallium].] c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 305 And in the Aleyes [v.rr. aleyes, aleyeis, aleyies] romeden vp and doun. 1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) xi. l. 21 Hagis, [1570 Lekprevik Hedgis and] alais, be laubour that was thar, Fulȝeit and spilt. 1538 T. Elyot Dict. at Hypætra An aley in a gardayne. 1568 T. Hill Proffitable Arte Gardening (rev. ed.) i. vi. f. 14^v The which Alleis & walkes you shall sifte ouer with the finest sand. 1594 H. Plat Diuerse Sorts of Soyle 48 in Jewell House Throughout all the allies of his hop garden. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. vii. xxi. 527 The allies that lie between the beds. 1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) xlvi. 277 These closer alleys must be ever finely gravelled. 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 118/2 Allies, or Walks well Gravelled. 1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 14 Sept. (1965) I. 268 At the end of a fine Alley in her Garden. 1763 J. Mills New Syst. Pract. Husbandry II. 18 The fallow here is..interposed by means of alleys, which are the part rested. 1855 ‘E. S. Delamer’ Kitchen Garden 41 Beds four feet in width, with a foot-wide alley between each bed. 1867 M. E. Braddon R. Godwin I. i. 4 Under the shelter of a long alley of hazel and filbert trees. 1929 S. Leslie Anglo-Catholic ix. 108 A magnificent park, set with three-mile alleys of elm. 1986 Grower 6 Nov. 12/1 Multi-row beds..are quicker to spray and pick because they have far fewer alleys. 2005 J. Lang Urban Design v. 106/2 Alleys of trees link the major activity sites of the park. 4. figurative and in extended use. A (notional) way or course; something resembling a narrow passage, lane, or street. Chiefly with of. ΚΠ 1413 T. Hoccleve Balade Richard II l. 45 in Minor Poems (1970) i. 49 Men erren & forueye, Walkynge blyndly in the dirk aleye Of heresie. 1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. xviij/2 He made in his hows alleyes and conduytes for water to renne in. 1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 67 The naturall gates and allies of the body. 1694 tr. G. P. Marana Lett. Turkish Spy VII. xii. 246 The Stars, those little Bullies of the Sky..skulk about i'th' Dark, through all the private Alleys of the Firmament. 1733 W. Havard Scanderberg v. iv. 65 The fierce Pow'r That springs thro' ev'ry Alley of the Soul, To bring in melting Joy. 1763 A. Tucker Freewill 62 We are now striking into another alley, and starting a different question. 1789 ‘A. Pasquin’ Poems I. 99 When meek Discretion, whisp'ring, spoke her fears, Love's regent shut the alleys of her ears. 1854 Ladies' Repository Mar. 113/1 Such men as Franklin, who have abandoned the by-paths and alleys of life, and carved..broad highways to fortune, distinction, and renown. 1885 Browning Soc. Papers 1885–6 7 (Monthly Abstr. section) 29 It proceeds..without any noteworthy divergencies into obscure bye-paths and alleys of thought and abstruse speculation. 1907 Outing Aug. 530/2 It haunted the alleys of my brain for days after. 1977 Cincinnati Aug. 31/1 In the dusky, low-down nighttime alley of his soul, he knows he was born to be a gamblin' man. 2008 R. Shorto Descartes' Bones 17 How could one of the greatest minds in history get itself into such convoluted alleys of reasoning? 2010 New Yorker 27 Sept. 18/1 Ginsberg's shadowy ‘angel-headed hipsters’ lunging through the skyscrapers and alleys of modern experience. 5. More generally: a narrow passageway or gangway between a group of things, people, etc. ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, passage, or means of access to a place > [noun] > between lines of persons or things streetc1384 lane1525 alley1631 alleyway1788 gangway1788 aisle1789 lokeway1888 1631 C. Aleyn Battailes Crescey & Poictiers sig. E3^v Here Edward fought, and there the French men fly, Whilst he an alley through their quarters made. 1655 in Edmondes' Comm. of Julius Cæsar (rev. ed.) v. vi. 106/2 These two cohorts standing with a small alley between them. 1769 D'Alenzon tr. ‘Hoamchi-Vam’ Bonze I. 9 They crept trembling through an alley of rocks, where on each side uprose broken and irregular walls. 1782 J. Warton Ess. on Pope (new ed.) II. viii. 92 It is a description of an alley of fishwomen. 1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxv. 329 We were in an alley of pounded ice-masses. 1868 Galaxy July 12 He passed along the narrow alley between the seats and the wall of the drawing-room. 1907 Fibre & Fabric 10 Aug. 2/2 A weaver's seat..rolls on rails in the alley between the looms. 1955 Times 7 Nov. 12/6 The big vehicles..nearly always leave a little alley on the extreme left which is just the right width for a bicycle. 2011 R. Hansen Wild Surge Guilty Passion 232 It took ten minutes before police could form an alley wide enough for passage through the wild and raucous crowd. II. Specific and technical uses. 6. a. A passage between the rows of pews or seats in a church; esp. such a passage running down the centre of the nave; = aisle n. 3a.Not always distinguishable from sense 6b.Aisle is now the usual term. N.E.D. (1884) gives this sense as current in English regional (northern) use, and notes: ‘In the south corruptly replaced by Aisle.’ ΘΚΠ society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > aisle or passage > [noun] alley1497 pace1499 going1516 aisle1646 pass1871 alure1878 1497 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1869) IV. 240 (note) Sep. in eccl. de Gamelyngey ad finem tumbæ le Avenellis, in le crosse aley. 1527 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 252 (note) [To be buried] in the myd aley before the rode. 1558 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 180 To be buried in the mydde allie before the quere dore. 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 1295 Temples, which in some places have faire open Isles and pleasant allies. 1683 J. Oldham Poems & Transl. 193 Turn out there, Friend! (cries one at Church) the Pew Is not for such mean scoundrel Curs, as you..Mean while you in the Alley stand, and sneak. a1743 J. Relph Misc. of Poems (1747) 76 Oh how my heart would lowp for joy To lead her up the ally. 1776 J. Wesley Jrnl. 15 Apr. in Extract from Jrnl. (1788) XVIII. 15 The church was so crowded, pews, alleys, and galleries. 1806 Intelligencer (Lancaster, Pa.) 21 Oct. Mr. Deming was sitting in the Pew east of the broad Alley. 1875 E. G. Harvey Mullyon 28 At one period it was moreover necessary to protect ones feet by India-rubber goloshes or iron pattens from the frequent pools of water lying in the alleys between the pews. 1910 W. Raymond Eng. Country Life (1911) xxv. 299 Mrs. William Purchase led the way up the centre alley to the square pew in front of the pulpit with unimpaired dignity. 2004 R. Tuck Churches Nova Scotia xv. 121 At the chancel steps, pulpit and lectern flanked a central alley dividing cantoris and decani stalls. †b. Any of the more or less linear areas into which a large church is divided; spec. one extending parallel to the main body of the church; = aisle n. 1. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > wing or aisle > [noun] aisle1398 eyling1400 alley1563 1563 Bp. J. Pilkington Burnynge of Paules Church sig. G.v The south alley for vsurye and Poperye, the north for Simony,..and the font for ordinary paimentes of money. 1731 J. Derby Let. 13 Nov. in Philos. Trans. 1739–40 (Royal Soc.) (1742) 41 229 The Leads and Timber of great Part of the North Alley of the Church was broke in. c. Any of the (usually four) more or less linear areas into which a cloister is divided. ΚΠ 1672 J. Davies Anc. Rites Durham 93 The Bishops of Durham were wont..to be interr'd in the foresaid Chapter-house, standing in the East-Alley of the Cloysters. 1786 R. Beatniffe Norfolk Tour (ed. 4) 56 When Queen Elizabeth visited Norwich in 1578, she dined in public in the North alley of the cloister. 1792 Hist. & Antiq. Glastonbury 20 In another alley of the cloyster stood the Fratery. 1817 J. Storer Hist. & Antiq. Cathedral Churches of Great Brit. III. 17 The chapter-house is approached from the eastern alley of the cloister. 1872 Fraser's Mag. Jan. 54/2 In the north alley of the cloisters..you may read the proverbial Miserrimus over a grave. 1912 E. Singleton How to Visit Eng. Cathedrals 199 The monks' lavatory occupies two bays in the north alley. 1995 J. Butler Quest for Becket's Bones (1996) i. 4 (caption) The southern alley of the cloisters. 7. A long narrow lane used for playing bowls, skittles, or similar games. Also: an enclosed area or building containing such a lane or lanes. In early use also in figurative contexts.ball, bowl, bowling, skittle, ten-pin alley, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > ninepins or ten-pins > [noun] > alley ball-alley1440 alley1541 bowling-alley1555 bowl-alley1628 ninepin yard1665 ninepin alley1682 ten-pin alley1835 lane1960 1541–2 Act 33 Henry VIII c. 9 in Statutes of Realm (1963) III. 839 Any common house alley or place of bowlinge Coytinge Cloyshe Cayles halfe bowle Tennis Dysing Table or Cardinge. c1560 (a1500) Squyr Lowe Degre (Copland) 804 An hundreth knightes, truly tolde, Shall play with bowles in alayes colde. 1594 H. Plat Jewell House 2 The aire will be a player, vnlesse you can keepe it out of the Alley perforce. 1615 G. Markham Countrey Contentments 109 Your flat bowles being best for allies, your round byazed bowles for open grounds. 1661 S. Pepys Diary 5 June (1970) II. 115 Sir W. Penn and I went home with Sir R. Slingsby to bowles in his ally. 1737 W. Pardon Dyche's New Gen. Eng. Dict. (ed. 2) at Mall The Alley as well as the Game and the Instrument is called the Mall. 1775 B. Romans Conc. Nat. Hist. E. & W. Florida 80 They make an alley of about two hundred feet in length,..one holds a stone, which is in shape of a truck, which he throws before him over this alley. 1849 Penny Ilustrated News 27 Oct. 3/2 The alley in which the game is played consists of a narrow platform of timber, elevated three or four inches above the floor. 1895 Outing 26 444/1 You rush to the bottom like a ten-pin ball sent spinning down its alley. 1940 Life 19 Feb. 52/1 There are 15,000,000 bowlers in the U.S. Most of them..bowl once a week on their neighborhood alleys. 1976 Burnham-on-Sea Gaz. 20 Apr. 21/4 Enmore Inn..must now meet Jokers tonight..in a play-off for the Stogursey and District Ladies' Skittles League championship on the First and Last alley. 2000 M. Benson Essent. Bowling 78 Roventini..bowled his perfect series..on Lanes 3 and 4 of the sixteen-lane alley just outside Milwaukee. 8. With the and capital initial. = Exchange Alley n. historical after 18th cent. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > financial centre street1555 rialto1600 city1621 alley1720 Lombard Street1721 money centre1838 Wall Street1841 1720 J. Trenchard Compar. Proposals of Bank & South-Sea Company 9 I take the less Notice of the little Jobbing Tricks play'd, and Reports given about in the Alley, to raise Stock. 1775 J. Ash New Dict. Eng. Lang. Alley..the place in the city of London where the public funds are bought and sold. 1854 J. Capper in Househ. Words 28 Jan. 519/2 Half a million sterling was raised amongst the men of the ‘Alley’. 1887 Jrnl. Inst. Bankers Apr. 190 The most noted house in the Alley was ‘Garraway's’, at No. 3. 1914 G. O. Trevelyan George III & Charles Fox II. xxii. 320 The brokers who sold and bought in The Alley..numbered less than a twentieth part of the army of operators which now throngs the Stock Exchange. 2011 H. J. Paul South Sea Bubble 99 Coffeehouses, alehouses and shops lined every part of the Alley. †9. Zoology. The ambulacrum of an echinoderm. Obsolete.Chiefly in glosses of scientific Latin ambulacrum as used by Linnaeus (see the etymology at ambulacrum n.). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [noun] > member of > parts of > ambulacrum alley1835 1835 W. Kirby On Power of God in Creation of Animals I. vi. 208 Those parts (of the shell of sea urchins) void of spines called the alleys. 1871 W. S. W. Ruschenberger Elem. Nat. Hist. vi. v. 62 (caption) The family contains thirteen genera, which are distinguished from each other by the form and size of the ambulacra (alleys). 10. Printing. In a printing office: a space between two compositors' stands, or between two printing presses. Now disused. ΚΠ 1871 Amer. Encycl. Printing 27/2 Alley, the space between two opposite stands or frames. This is also sometimes called a corner. 1890 Amer. Bookmaker Oct. 123/1 This..practice..compels the compositor who is hunting spaces from alley to alley to stop another workman at case while he is spacing out his line. 1920 Inland Printer June 332/2 Every compositor works in his own alley, and the alley is completely equipped with certain faces of display type. 1970 R. K. Kent Lang. Journalism 25 Alley, an aisle in a printshop or composing room between type cabinets or typesetting machines. 11. Tennis (chiefly North American). The strip between the singles and doubles sidelines on each side of the court. Cf. tramline n. 2. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > racket games > lawn tennis > [noun] > court > parts of baseline1875 centreline1882 runback1891 alley1904 cover1907 no man's land1931 tramline1937 ad court1946 1904 J. P. Paret Lawn Tennis 334 Alley, a slang expression defining the strip of court lying between the sidelines for singles and doubles. 1932 W. Faulkner Sartoris iii. ii. 187 I kept on letting 'em get my alley. 1986 New Yorker 13 Oct. 124/1 She lost the point when she hit a loose forehand volley into the alley. 2000 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 6 Feb. 7 At deuce in the final game, Ullyett fired a backhand service return winner down the alley. Phrases to be (right) up (also down) one's alley: to be well suited to one's tastes, interests, or abilities; = to be up (down, †in) one's street at street n. and adj. Phrases 8. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > suitability or appropriateness > be suitable, appropriate, or suit [verb (intransitive)] > suit a person to sit loose1591 to be up (down, in) one's street1903 to be (right) up (also down) one's alley1922 to meet up with1972 1922 H. Broun Boy grew Older viii. 268 I'd like to have him come out with me and do notes of the games... That would be down his alley. 1931 M. E. Gilman Sob Sister v. 65 It's about time a good murder broke, and this one is right up your alley. 1941 W. H. Auden New Year Let. ii. p. 37 All vague idealistic art That coddles the uneasy heart, Is up his alley. 1965 New Statesman 9 Apr. 583/2 Its slogans and chirpy recommendations are right up her spiritual alley. 1983 ‘Trevanian’ Summer of Katya (1984) 164 I'll help Katya with the wine. More down my alley. 2009 M. Muhammed Scared Silent v. 59 I spotted an ad in the paper for a job that seemed right up my alley. Compounds C1. General attributive and objective, as alley door, † alley maker, † alley making, alley wall, etc. ΚΠ 1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Aley maker, Topiarius. Aley makynge, Topiaria. 1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 107 The said shaft was laid along ouer the dores and vnder the pentises of one row of houses, and Alley gate. 1638 H. Adamson Muses Threnodie 5 His alley bowles, his curling stones: Which to the gods are consecrate. 1792 J. Morgan Attorney's Vade Mecum (new ed.) III. 280 The water..overflowed and greatly damaged, spoiled, injured, and broke to pieces, the said mill.., in divers parts thereof, to wit, in the wheels, alley boards, cogs and rungs thereof. 1821 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 24 Nov. 3/1 We again caution our citizens to keep their front doors and alley gates fastened in their absence. 1856 Knickerbocker Mar. 278 Occasionally the car is brought to a full stop, and the ‘standees’ are thrown against each other like alley-pins by a ‘ten-strike’. 1876 Leicester Chron. & Leics. Mercury 6 Feb. 2/6 Her son immediately missed a coat of the alley door. 1899 Science 22 Dec. 933/2 The investigation of the alley houses and slums. 1953 R. Graves Poems 18 Tatter-eared and slinking alley-toms. 1993 Guardian 23 June 1/6 A teenager knifed a stranger to death in an alley attack to get himself ‘put away’, Bristol crown court was told yesterday. 2010 W. Ryan Holy Thief 179 The sergeant..leaned against the alley wall breathing heavily. C2. alley apple n. U.S. slang (a) a rock, stone, or piece of rubble found in an alley and used as a missile; (b) a piece of horse manure; cf. road apples n. at road n. Compounds 6 (now rare and historical). ΚΠ 1913 Indiana (Pa.) Evening Gaz. 20 Oct. 1/2 Insulted at this rude reception, O'Sullivan walked out of the hotel, picked up a number of ‘alley apples’ and used the hotel windows as targets. 1934 Sun (Baltimore) 7 Dec. 28/3 For the next sixty days..a brick-tossing seaman can sit in a cell in the City Jail and regret his marksmanship with an ‘alley apple’. 1960 H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 3/2 Alley apple,..a piece of horse manure. 1987 Eng. Today July 41/2 Alley apple is long gone, along with the equine emissions it described. 2011 D. T. Hardison Officer's Love Story xxix. 553 We bombarded them with the rice like we were throwing alley apples. alley crop n. Agriculture a crop raised between rows of trees or shrubs (typically leguminous ones); cf. alley cropping n. ΚΠ 1981 Ann. Rep. 1980 (Internat. Inst. Trop. Agric.) 41/2 If..the field were divided into 4 sections, three-fourths could be in alley crop production in any given year. 1995 New Scientist 29 July 13/3 ‘Alley crops’ act as windbreaks, prevent erosion, and retain moisture in the fields. 2006 R. Tripp Self-sufficient Agric. ii. 33 Several of the technologies described earlier, such as cover crops, alley crops and mulches, make important contributions to weed control. alley cropping n. Agriculture a form of intercropping sometimes used in the tropics in which crop plants are grown between hedgerows of shrubs or trees (typically leguminous ones), which can provide animal fodder, fuel, shade, or soil improvement. ΚΠ 1981 Ann. Rep. 1980 (Internat. Inst. Trop. Agric.) 32/1 Research in cropping systems..focused on the following areas: mixed cropping, alley cropping..and the role of agro-forestry. 1995 N. Hudson Soil Conservation (ed. 3) xi. 279 Continuing research..in Nigeria is demonstrating the long-term advantages of alley cropping using hedgerows of Leucaena and Gliricidia. 2004 Guardian 21 Apr. (Society section) 12/4 Although alley cropping has been widely used, it has not been done with the Inga tree, whose leaves were thought to be too tough to break down quickly. alley farming n. Agriculture = alley cropping n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > [noun] > other systems of growing crops water farming1811 catch-cropping1851 sharecropping1877 intercropping1898 intertillage1912 strip-cropping1936 alley farming1984 1984 Farmer's Jrnl. Jan. 74/1 One objective of this Programme is to evaluate an ‘alley farming system’ consisting of 4-metre alleys between rows of Leucaena or Gliricidia. 1993 New Scientist 1 May 44/2 No farmer in Ethiopia could reasonably embark on the excellent technique of alley-farming. 2004 C. R. Elevitch Overstory Bk. (ed. 2) 111/1 In lowland humid regions of the tropics where farm size is often small, the amount of forage generated from alley farming is very low. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021). alleyn.² Brit. /ˈali/, U.S. /ˈæli/ Forms: 1700s– alley, 1800s alay, 1800s– ally, 1800s– olley (English regional (Cheshire)). Origin: Probably formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: alabaster n., -y suffix⁶. Etymology: Probably < al- (in alabaster n., with reference to the material of the marble) + -y suffix⁶. With alley taw compare earlier taw n.³ A toy marble (marble n. 11a), originally one of high quality made from marble or alabaster, later also one made from glass or other material. Also (occasionally) attributive in alley taw. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > marbles > [noun] > marble > types of nicker1675 alley1720 blood alley1821 commoney1837 Rouge Royal1837 peewee1848 stoney1856 knicker1860 bonce1862 plunker1863 dobber1875 agate1886 mig1886 glassy1887 miggle1890 shooter1892 aggie1896 knuckler1896 milkie1908 ghoen1913 miggie1916 immy1928 glarney1953 1720 Hist. Life & Adventures D. Campbell iv. 65 A large Bag of Marbles and Alleys. 1749 Philos. Trans. 1748 (Royal Soc.) 45 456 Pellets, vulgarly called Alleys, which boys play withal. 1837 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers xxxiii. 358 Enquiring whether he had won any alley tors or commoneys lately. 1865 D. M. Mulock Christian's Mistake 37 An ‘ally taw,’ that is, a real alabaster marble. 1892 I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto (1902) i. ii. 33/2 He also had bags of..marbles, both commoners and alleys. 1932 Boys' Life Mar. 27/1 Today, any kind of a marble is called an alley. 1960 Times 21 July 13/6 From the age of three we get pleasure from collecting, placing, and admiring colourful and shapely objects from Alleys (glass) to Zoos (cardboard). 1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 23 Apr. 11/1 You don't see alleys on display anymore in the department stores. Marbles have been replaced by hockey and baseball cards. 2008 Lowell (Mass.) Sun (Nexis) 10 Apr. The game began with one player tossing his alley out onto the ground not far from where the other kids stood. Phrases to toss (pass, throw, etc.) in one's alley Australian slang: to give up, finish; to die; = to pass in one's marble at pass v. Phrasal verbs 1. Now rare. ΚΠ 1903 Sporting News (Launceston, Tasmania) 25 Apr. 2/8 Most of the cricketers have thrown in their ‘ally’ and the various clubs have stored away the paraphernalia until next spring. 1924 C. J. Dennis Rose of Spadgers 23 When my pal, Ginger Mick, Chucked in 'is alley in this war we won, 'E left things tangled. 1936 N. Lindsay Saturdee (new ed.) 25 ‘This book says a bloke kicked the bucket,..so what's it mean?’ ‘Means a bloke passed his alley in.’ 1960 Khaki Bush & Bigotry (1968) 228 Don't sling in yer alley, missus. There's a good time comin'. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.¹1360n.²1720
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