ale

¹

[eyl]

noun

1. a malt beverage, darker, heavier, and more bitter than beer, containing about 6 percent alcohol by volume.

2. British.,  beer.

A.L.E.

²

abbreviation

Insurance.

1. additional living expense.

ale

/ eɪl /

noun

1. a beer fermented in an open vessel using yeasts that rise to the top of the brew Compare beer lager 1

2. (formerly) an alcoholic drink made by fermenting a cereal, esp barley, but differing from beer by being unflavoured by hops

3. another word for beer

Word History and Origins

Origin of ale¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English (e)alu (genitive ealoth ); cognate with Old Saxon alo-, Middle Dutch ale, ael, Old Norse ǫl; Lithuanian alùs, Old Church Slavonic olŭ; Finnish, Estonian olut

Word History and Origins

Origin of ale¹

Old English alu, ealu; related to Old Norse öl, Old Saxon alofat

Example Sentences

But when they were making great time and chose to lighten their load of excess food or fuel, they buried it in the snow and tagged it with a way point that A.L.E. staff members can locate to retrieve by vehicle at a later date.

From New York Times

Related Words

• brew 
• malt 
• suds