ale

¹ American  

[eyl] / eɪl /

noun

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

2. British. beer.

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A.L.E. ² American  

abbreviation

Insurance.

1. additional living expense.

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ale British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of ale

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

Example Sentences

It smelled like rotting meat and sour ale, worse than a troll’s breath.

From Literature

He brews his own ale at home and once considered buying a brewery.

From BBC

The ginger ale is flatly branded Canada Dry.

From Salon

Perhaps you plan to fight Hitler by striking him on the skull with your pint of ale?

From Literature

This was one of the first ales he made in his Overtone brewery in Glasgow.

From BBC

Related Words

• brew
• malt
• suds