ALE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ale mean? 

• ALE (noun)
  The noun ALE has 1 sense:

1. 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

  Familiarity information: ALE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("ale" is a kind of...):

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

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ale"):

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; porter's beer (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)

 Context examples 

Mayhap he will sing it when the ale has warmed him.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now all this time the ale was running too, for Catherine had not turned the cock; and when the jug was full the liquor ran upon the floor till the cask was empty.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

After watching me into the second chop, he said: There's half a pint of ale for you.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“The boys were thirsty, sir, so I brought up some ale and some liptrap,” whispered the landlord; “I thought you would have no objection, sir.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Dance must have some ale.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Whenever he encountered a chance shipmate, and there were many in San Francisco, he treated them and was treated in turn, as of old, but he ordered for himself root beer or ginger ale and good-naturedly endured their chaffing.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I likewise delivered up my watch, which the emperor was very curious to see, and commanded two of his tallest yeomen of the guards to bear it on a pole upon their shoulders, as draymen in England do a barrel of ale.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I must wash it out with some good English ale.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why did you leave the steak to fry, and the ale to run, and then spoil all the meal?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

My aunt being resolute, I went out and got the ale myself.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)