ALLEY

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does alley mean? 

• ALLEY (noun)
  The noun ALLEY has 2 senses:

1. a narrow street with walls on both sides

2. a lane down which a bowling ball is rolled toward pins

  Familiarity information: ALLEY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALLEY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A narrow street with walls on both sides

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

alley; alleyway; back street

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

street (a thoroughfare (usually including sidewalks) that is lined with buildings)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A lane down which a bowling ball is rolled toward pins

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

alley; bowling alley; skittle alley

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

lane (a well-defined track or path; for e.g. swimmers or lines of traffic)

Meronyms (parts of "alley"):

foul line (a line across a bowling alley that a bowler must not cross)

Holonyms ("alley" is a part of...):

bowling equipment (equipment used in bowling)

 Context examples 

He watched the youthful apparition of himself, day after day, hurrying from school to the Enquirer alley.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The lanes and alleys, which I could not enter, but only view them as I passed, are from twelve to eighteen inches.

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

Let them bide in the north alley of the cloisters.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He has been working at a case down at Rotherhithe, in an alley near the river, and he has brought this illness back with him.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“This way! This way! They are in the bowling-alley,” cried the stranger, darting through the bushes.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Through the trees the mouth of the alley could be seen, opening out on a moonlit glade.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of human experience this lonely woman had strayed into.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For a week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the Heath and in every alley in the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare came along, since when it has been quite a gala-time with them.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This evil had been felt and lamented, at least three times a day, by Isabella since her residence in Bath; and she was now fated to feel and lament it once more, for at the very moment of coming opposite to Union Passage, and within view of the two gentlemen who were proceeding through the crowds, and threading the gutters of that interesting alley, they were prevented crossing by the approach of a gig, driven along on bad pavement by a most knowing-looking coachman with all the vehemence that could most fitly endanger the lives of himself, his companion, and his horse.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The end of the alley was blocked by a one-story brick building, out of which issued the rhythmic thunder of the presses, running off the first edition of the Enquirer.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)