alec

¹ American  

[al-ik] / ˈæl ɪk /

noun

Obsolete.

1. a herring.

2. a sauce or relish made from small herring or anchovies.

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alec ² American  

[al-ik] / ˈæl ɪk /

noun

Australian.

1. a simpleton or fool.

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Alec ³ American  

[al-ik] / ˈæl ɪk /

Or Aleck

noun

1. a first name, form of Alexander.

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Etymology

Origin of alec¹

1510–20; < Latin ( h ) al ( l ) ec fish sauce

Origin of alec²

1920–25; smart aleck ( def. ); sense shift perhaps originally from ironic usage

Example Sentences

Sometimes Alex is a smart alec: the chapter sending up his academy school and peer group reads like the revenge of the nerd.

From The Guardian • Mar. 15, 2013

Obviously a smart alec statement, insinuating that Mooney talked for publicity's sake alone, instead of for a cause in which he sincerely believes.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hootsey could not be sure if Nibbles was being a "smart alec" or was just paying him a complement.

From The Forest Monster of Oz by Evans, Bob

Seneca reproaches them with this refinement of cruelty—“Oculis quoque gulosi sunt;” and the most renowned of Apicius’s culinary discoveries was the alec, a compound of their livers.

From Curiosities of Medical Experience by Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)