alewife

ale·wife ¹  (lwf)

n. pl. ale·wives (-wvz)

A fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) closely related to the herrings and native to North American Atlantic waters and some inland lakes.

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[Probably alteration (influenced by alewife) of obsolete allowes, a type of shad, from French alose, shad, from Old French, from Late Latin alausa.]

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ale·wife ²  (lwf)

n. pl. ale·wives (-wvz)

A woman who keeps an alehouse.

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alewife [ˈeɪlˌwaɪf]

n pl -wives

(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Animals) a North American fish, Pomolobus pseudoharengus, similar to the herring Clupea harengus: family Clupeidae (herrings)

[perhaps an alteration (through influence of alewife, that is, a large rotund woman, alluding to the fish's shape) of French alose shad]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	alewife - flesh of shad-like fish abundant along the Atlantic coast or in coastal streams Alosa pseudoharengus, Pomolobus pseudoharengus, alewife - shad-like food fish that runs rivers to spawn; often salted or smoked; sometimes placed in genus Pomolobus fish - the flesh of fish used as food; "in Japan most fish is eaten raw"; "after the scare about foot-and-mouth disease a lot of people started eating fish instead of meat"; "they have a chef who specializes in fish"
	2.	alewife - shad-like food fish that runs rivers to spawn; often salted or smoked; sometimes placed in genus Pomolobus Alosa pseudoharengus, Pomolobus pseudoharengus clupeid, clupeid fish - any of numerous soft-finned schooling food fishes of shallow waters of northern seas Alosa, genus Alosa - shad alewife - flesh of shad-like fish abundant along the Atlantic coast or in coastal streams