alewife

Definition of Alewife in English :

1. alewife

flesh of shad-like fish abundant along the Atlantic coast or in coastal streams

shad-like food fish that runs rivers to spawn; often salted or smoked; sometimes placed in genus Pomolobus

WordNet Lexical Database for English. Princeton University. 2010.

Alewife

noun plural -wives

a North American fish, Pomolobus pseudoharengus, similar to the herring Clupea harengus: family Clupeidae (herrings)

nounWord forms: plural ˈaleˌwives (ˈeɪlˌwaɪvz ; ālˈwīvzˌ)

1.

a woman who keeps an alehouse

2. US

a NW Atlantic clupeid fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) that swims up rivers to spawn in the spring: used for food and in fertilizers

n. pl. ale·wives (-wīvz′)

A fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) of North American Atlantic waters and some inland lakes, which swims up rivers to spawn.

n. pl. ale·wives (-wīvz′)

A woman who keeps an alehouse.