What does ale-wife mean?
Ale-wife means Alternative form of alewife (woman who sells ale).
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Pronunciation varies by accent · noun
Alternative form of alewife (woman who sells ale).
Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, if she know me not : if she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lyingest knave in Christendom.
The ale-wife was a very good woman; she put the poor girl to bed, gave her food and a great deal of pity when she heard " how the wicked roundhead troopers had killed her father, because he loved king Charles, and burnt her home and village, so that she was destitute and houseless;" but the young lady never told her true name and rank.
On the average, ale-wives worked in commercial brewing for about two decades, yet during that period they brewed irregularly and often stopped brewing for considerable lengths of time. Usually an ale-wife sold ale on only about one-third of the occasions available to her.
Perhaps then the punishment of the Chester ale-wife was intended to be a real warning to women traders. If this is the case, then the Chester ale-wife transcends the boundary of comedy, and her appearance shows a real fear of working women's threat to the market.
Use ale-wife when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Ale-wife means Alternative form of alewife (woman who sells ale).
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, if she know me not : if she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lyingest knave in Christendom.
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