ale

a fermented alcoholic beverage: Order me a mug of ale.

Not to be confused with:

ail – to feel ill; to make uneasy: What ails him?

ale

(āl)

1. A usually full-bodied beer that has been fermented at a relatively warm temperature.

2. A serving of this beer.

[Middle English, from Old English ealu, alu; see alu- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ale

(eɪl)

1. (Brewing) a beer fermented in an open vessel using yeasts that rise to the top of the brew. Compare beer, lager¹

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

3. (Brewing) chiefly Brit another word for beer

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

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ale

(eɪl)

n.

a malt beverage, darker, heavier, and more bitter than beer.

[before 950; Middle English; Old English (e)alu (genitive ealoth), c. Old Saxon alo-, Old Norse ǫl]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

ale - a general name for beer made with a top fermenting yeast; in some of the United States an ale is (by law) a brew of more than 4% alcohol by volume

beer - a general name for alcoholic beverages made by fermenting a cereal (or mixture of cereals) flavored with hops

Weissbier, wheat beer, white beer - a general name for beers made from wheat by top fermentation; usually very pale and cloudy and effervescent

bitter - English term for a dry sharp-tasting ale with strong flavor of hops (usually on draft)

Burton - a strong dark English ale

pale ale - an amber colored ale brewed with pale malts; similar to bitter but drier and lighter

porter's beer, porter - a very dark sweet ale brewed from roasted unmalted barley

stout - a strong very dark heavy-bodied ale made from pale malt and roasted unmalted barley and (often) caramel malt with hops

Translations

شِرَاب مِن نَوع الجَعَه

ale``pivo

øl

Bier

cerveza

öl, bjór

birra birra chiara

šviesusis alus

alusgaišais alus

pivo

ale

[eɪl] N → cerveza f
see also brown E
see also light ² D
see also pale ¹ C

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ale

[ˈeɪl] n → bière f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ale

n (old) → Ale nt ? real ale

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ale

[eɪl] n → birra

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

ale

(eil) noun

the name given to certain kinds of beer. two pints of ale.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

For as this is the liquor of modern historians, nay, perhaps their muse, if we may believe the opinion of Butler, who attributes inspiration to ale, it ought likewise to be the potation of their readers, since every book ought to be read with the same spirit and in the same manner as it is writ.

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Right merrily they dwelled within the depths of Sherwood Forest, suffering neither care nor want, but passing the time in merry games of archery or bouts of cudgel play, living upon the King's venison, washed down with draughts of ale of October brewing.

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"One more round of mead or ale and the score to the last comer."

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I said I'd take ginger ale. The boys snickered, and I noticed the barkeeper favoured me with a strange, searching scrutiny.

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Brittles, with a mug of ale in his hand, was corroborating everything, before his superior said it.

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Godfrey waited, before he spoke again, until the ale had been brought and the door closed--an interval during which Fleet, the deer-hound, had consumed enough bits of beef to make a poor man's holiday dinner.

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Even the fire on the hearth left off blazing, and went to sleep; the jack stopped, and the spit that was turning about with a goose upon it for the king's dinner stood still; and the cook, who was at that moment pulling the kitchen-boy by the hair to give him a box on the ear for something he had done amiss, let him go, and both fell asleep; the butler, who was slyly tasting the ale, fell asleep with the jug at his lips: and thus everything stood still, and slept soundly.

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After some further conversation between the master and mistress relative to the success of Mr Squeers's trip and the people who had paid, and the people who had made default in payment, a young servant girl brought in a Yorkshire pie and some cold beef, which being set upon the table, the boy Smike appeared with a jug of ale.

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On the table before him, stood a pot of ale, a cold round of beef, and a very respectable-looking loaf, to each of which he distributed his favours in turn, with the most rigid impartiality.

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The Jolly Sandboys was a small road-side inn of pretty ancient date, with a sign, representing three Sandboys increasing their jollity with as many jugs of ale and bags of gold, creaking and swinging on its post on the opposite side of the road.

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"What a time that gell is drawing th' ale, to be sure!" said Mrs.

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See with what entire freedom the whaleman takes his handful of lamps --often but old bottles and vials, though --to the copper cooler at the try-works, and replenishes them there, as mugs of ale at a vat.

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