Bride-ale

Related to Bride-ale: parasail

Bride´-ale`


n.1.A rustic wedding feast; a bridal. See Ale.
The man that 's bid to bride-ale, if he ha' cake,
And drink enough, he need not fear his stake.
- B. Jonson.
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The word bridal is believed to be a corruption of bride-ale, a special beer brewed for weddings, and wedding presents were traditionally given by guests in exchange for beer.
Why beer makes a marriage
Although I am neither persuaded by Moisa's argument nor willing to accept her characterizations of my work, I welcome the opportunity to emphasize again the main point of my article.(24) Bride-ales, church-ales, help-ales, and the numerous other charity ales of medieval and early modern England rightly direct our attention away from the charitable provisions of the rich and towards the charitable institutions of ordinary people.
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