Alley

Definition: Alley

Alley

Noun

1. A narrow street with walls on both sides.

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

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "alley" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Etymology: Alley \Al"ley\, noun; plural Alleys. [Old English aley, alley, Old French al['e]e, French all['e]e, a going, passage, from Old English aler, French aller, to go; of uncertain origin: compare to Prov. anar, Italian andare, Spanish andar.]. (references)

Dream Interpretation

Literature

Transportation

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Alley

Abode

Street, place, terrace, parade, esplanade, alameda, board walk, embankment, road, row, lane, alley, court, quadrangle, quad, wynd, close, yard, passage, rents, buildings, mews.

Amusement

Park, plaisance; national park, national forest, state park, county park, city park, vest-pocket park, public park (public) a; arbor; garden; (horticulture); pleasure ground, playground, cricketground, croquet ground, archery ground, hunting ground; tennis court, racket court; bowling alley, green alley; croquet lawn, rink, glaciarum, skating rink; roundabout, merry-go-round; swing; montagne Russe.

Closure

Noun: closure, occlusion, blockade; shutting up; Verb: obstruction; (hindrance); embolus; contraction; infarction; constipation, obstipation; blind alley, blind corner; keddah; cul-de-sac, caecum; imperforation, imperviousness; Adjective: impermeability; stopper.

Method

Door; gateway; (opening); channel, passage, avenue, means of access, approach, adit; artery, lane, alley, aisle, lobby, corridor; back-door, back-stairs; secret passage; covert way; vennel.

Opening

Alley, aisle, glade, vista.

Crosswords: Alley

Manx (alley, alleyway).

Then Fish runs in the alley and he leaps over us like one of those, what do you call those things in Africa that run and leap in the air (Barney Miller; writing credit: Danny Arnold)

When a man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross (Dirty Harry; writing credit: Harry Julian Fink; Rita M. Fink)

When I saw it, I thought it was right up your alley. (The Brady Bunch Movie; writing credit: Laurice Elehwany)

It could be a bowling alley! (A Christmas Story; writing credit: Leigh Brown; Bob Clark)

Yeah, I bought all that I could at this bank, and then I got the rest from this guy Ralph in an alley. (South Park; writing credit: Rocco Siffredi)

To the backroom, to the alley or the trusty woods (Night Moves; performing artist: BOB SEGER; writing credit: Bob Seger)

Junkie's in the alley with a baseball bat ("The Message"; performing artist: Grandmaster Flash)

Let's start a fire in an alley way (When the Lights Go Out; performing artist: Oingo Boingo)

Running down the alley I've got my eyes all over you baby (RHYTHM OF MY HEART; performing artist: Rod Stewart)

Well there's a punk in the alley and he's looking for a fight (Happy Birthday; performing artist: Weird Al Yankovic)

Shopping tip: You can get shoes for 85-cents at the bowling alley. (references; author: unknown)

Black Alley Cats (1974)

Up Your Alley (1972)

Shinbone Alley (1971)

The Alley Cats (1968)

Thunder Alley (1967)

Creeque Alley (performing artist: The Mamas And The Papas)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

References

• The World Market for Table or Parlor Games, Printed Tables for Casino Games, Automated Bowling Alley Equipment, and Billiards: A 2004 Global Trade Perspective (reference)

  (more reference examples)

Books

• Children of the Alley (reference)

• Damnation Alley (reference)

• Harry Potter Eeylops Owl Emporium Diagon Alley Kit (reference)

• Mandie and the Dark Alley (Mandie Book, 33) (reference)

• Paradise Alley (reference)

  (more book examples)

Periodicals

• Alley Cat Allies Membership (reference)

• Hogans Alley (reference)

  (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies

• The Musketeers of Pig Alley & Selected Biographical Shorts (reference)

• Amarilly of Clothesline Alley (reference)

• Torpedo Alley (reference)

• Shinbone Alley (reference)

• Mig Alley (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Alligator Alley (reference)

• In Person: Live at Blues Alley (reference)

• Live at Blues Alley [LIVE] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech

• Animaniacs Ten Pin Alley (reference)

• MiG Alley (reference)

• Ten Pin Alley (reference)

  (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Food technologist Alley Watada (left) and horticulturist Ling Qi, who is visiting from China, prepare shredded carrots and other fresh-cut produce for automated measurement of respiration rate and ethylene production. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..

Unpaved street or alley between houses in Georgia. Credit: Library of Congress.

Houses along unpaved street or alley in Georgia. Credit: Library of Congress.

The destruction of Cat Alley. Credit: Library of Congress.

The Hogan's Alley Kid. "Mickey Dugan". Credit: Library of Congress.

Gasoline Alley. It would be only 30 miles out of our way. Credit: Library of Congress.

"Right up my alley" / Herblock. Credit: Library of Congress.

Col. Charles R. Alley, of the Chemical Warfare Service Division of the Army, carrying on a telephone conversation while wearing a newly developed gas mask. Credit: Library of Congress.

U.S.S. Brooklyn, "Hogan's Alley". Credit: Library of Congress.

Exchange Alley and entrance to Royal Hotel, New Orleans, La. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

The alley ran out to a space between some buildings that were mere sheds or barns, then terminated abruptly

He sidled out of the alley, smiling slily

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Human Rights

Bangladesh

On April 11, two bombs exploded in an alley near a BNP rally in Dhaka. (references)

Djibouti

On February 17, a police officer shot and killed Mohamed Assa Ali, who was with some friends in an alley behind the officer's home; the officer apparently mistook him for a suspected criminal. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expressions using "alley": alley cat ♦ back alley ♦ blind alley ♦ bowling alley ♦ down one's alley ♦ finish up a blind alley ♦ it's up my alley ♦ screw alley ♦ shaft alley ♦ skittle alley ♦ that is right up my alley ♦ tin pan alley ♦ up one's alley. Additional references.

Beginning with "alley": alley-cat, alley-cats, alley-cropped, alley-cropping, alley-fighter, alley-kid, alley-sneakers, alley-style, alley-way, alley-ways.

Ending with "alley": blind-alley.

Albanian

shteg (aisle, approach, course, footpath, footway, gangway, gap, Lane, loophole, pass, path, pathway, ride, trace, track, trackway, trail, way), rruginë (bedside rug, driveway, gangway, Lane, path, walk), rrugicë (back street, Lane, narrow, side street, wynd), kursi. (various references)

Arabic 

‏كلة, ‏ممشى في حديقة, ‏مجاز ضيق طويل, ‏زقاق (alley-way, back street, cul de sac, lane, path, side street). (various references)

Bulgarian 

тясна уличка (alleyway, wynd), алея (ride, vista, walk), пътека (footpath, footway, lode, path, pathway, runner, runway, track, trail, walk, way), пасаж (alleyway, passage, passageway, place, run, school, way through), игрище за кегелбан. (various references)

Chinese 

胡同 (Alleys). (various references)

Czech

alej (Avenue), ulièka (aisle, corridor), stromořadí, cesta (byway, career, channel, crossing, drive, itinerary, jaunt, journey, Lane, passage, path, pathway, ride, road, route, tour, track, trail, travel, trip, venture, voyage, walk, way). (various references)

Danish

stræde (lane). (various references)

Dutch

steeg (lane). (various references)

Esperanto

strateto (lane). (various references)

Farsi 

کوچه (Lane, Street), خیابان کوچک . (various references)

Finnish

kuja (lane). (various references)

French

ruelle (alley-way). (various references)

German

Gasse (alleyway, Lane, Mews), Passage (arcade, gangway, negotiation, passage). (various references)

Greek 

στενωπόσ, στενή δίοδος (aisle, passage), σοκάκι (backstreet, side street), πέρασμα (course, fly-by, pass, passage, passing, way), πάροδος (side street), δρομάκι (byway, lane), δρομίσκοσ, δρομίσκος, διάδρομος (aisle, corridor, passage way), δεντροστοιχία, δίοδοσ (gangway, passage, underpass). (various references)

Hebrew 

רחוב צדדי (bystreet), סמטה (back street, side street). (various references)

Hungarian

sikátor (alleyway, alley-way, close, gut, lane, mews), fasor (avenue, esplanade, vista). (various references)

Indonesian

lorong (alleyway), gang (alleyway, breezeway, corridor, gang, gangway, narrow street, passage, passageway, slum). (various references)

Italian

vicolo (court, lane), viuzza (bystreet). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

路地 (alleyway, lane), 裏通り (back street, side street), 横町 (lane, side street), 横丁 (lane, side street), 小路 (lane). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

しょうじ (administrator of a manor, commercial affairs, demagnetization, lane, little while, one's early days, paper sliding door, simplification of a kanji, trifle, trifling matter), うらどおり (back street, side street), うらとおり (back street, side street), こうじ (affairs after one's death, bait, construction work, curious, decoy, edict, fortune, future affairs, good deed, government business, higher-order-, lane, leaven, lure, malt, meta-, mould used to make sake, mouth and ear, public announcement, yeast), ろじ (alleyway, lane, the bare ground), よこちょう (lane, side street). (various references)

Manx

alley (alleyway). (various references)

Norwegian

blindvei (blind alley, cul-de-sac). (various references)

Papiamen

hanchi (lane). (various references)

Pig Latin

alleyay.(various references)

Portuguese

beco (alleyway, lane, pass), viela (gangway, gate, lane), ruela (lane, pass), aléia (avenue). (various references)

Portuguese Brazilian

beco. (various references)

Romanian

alee (Avenue, Lane, Mall, parkway, promenade, ride, walk), uliţã (Street), trecere (credit, cropper, crossing, influence, Lane, March, pass, passage, passage way, passing, transit, transition, way, weight), stradã (Avenue, drag, road, street, terrace, thoroughfare), strãduţã (Lane, row), intrare (access, accession, adit, admittance, approach, by-street, doorway, entrance, entry, gate, hall, in-going, ingress, portal, postern), cãrare (footpath, Lane, part, parting, path, pathway, track, trackway, way). (various references)

Russian 

аллея (aly, avenue, parkway, shrubbery, vista, walkway). (various references)

Scottish

clamhsa (an alley). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

uska ulica (alleyway), drvored. (various references)

Spanish

callejón (alleyway, backstreet, impasse, Lane, line, passage, passageway), calleja (lane). (various references)

Swedish

gränd (alleyway, alley-way, lane, slum). (various references)

Turkish

patika (footpath, gate, Lane, path, pathway, trace, track, trail, walkway), pasaj (arcade, gangway, passage, passageway), geçit (access, aisle, alleyway, causeway, close, corridor, crossing, crossover, gangway, gap, gate, gateway, gorge, gullet, gut, parade, pass, passage, passageway, runway, Strait, thoroughfare, vestibule, walkway), dar yol (alleyway, defile, gangway, Lane, pass). (various references)

Turkmen 

skwar (r). (various references)

Ukrainian

коридор (aisle, alleyway, corridor, hallway, passage), кегельбан (bowling alley), вузкий прохід між будинками, алея (drive, vista, walk, walkway), провулок (bystreet, pass, row). (various references)

Vietnamese 

ngõ cụt (blind alley). (various references)

Welsh

ale, llwybr (aisle, path, track). (various references)

allatus. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "alley": alleys, alleyway, alleyways. (additional references)

Words ending with "alley": galley, intervalley, tomalley, valley. (additional references)

Words containing "alley": galleys, intervalleys, tomalleys, valleys, walleye, walleyed, walleyes. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Alley" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Abley, alay, Alayh, albey, aleay, aleb, alec, aleg, alei, alek, alery, aleu, aley, Alfeyo, Alfy, aliya, Allab, Allaf, allavy, alle, alled, allee, alleg, allegy, allein, allek, allel, allev, allez, alli, alliby, allii, alllay, allne, alloc, alloj, alloyn, Allwyn, allyl, Alney, aloey, alty, alwey, aly, alye, aplly, Asley, aullay, Awliya, caley, ealle, halley, lelei, Lelley, Malleny, oleyl, Ralley, Ralleye, talley, walley. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: ally, leal, yell.

-2 letters: ale, all, aye, ell, lay, lea, ley, lye, yea.

-3 letters: ae, al, ay, el, la, ya, ye.

+1 letter: alleys, galley, lamely, lanely, lately, leally, lealty, leanly, palely, rallye, really, valley.

+2 letters: agilely, alertly, alienly, allayed, allayer, allergy, alloyed, areally, bleakly, calycle, cecally, cleanly, clearly, clypeal, equally, eyeball, falsely, flyable, flyleaf, gallery, galleys, hazelly, ideally, langley, largely, leakily, legally, loyaler, mesally, penally, playlet, rallyes, ravelly, regally, stalely, valleys, venally, walleye.

+3 letters: aerially, alderfly, alkylate, allayers, allegory, alleyway, allotype, alpinely, blearily, caecally, calyceal, calycles, claylike, coevally, dentally, elatedly, epically, eyeballs, facilely, festally, feudally, genially, gravelly, ladylike, ladylove, langleys, latently, latterly, lawyerly, leadenly, legality, lethally, lineally, linearly, lobately, loveably, loyalest, lunately, lyrately, medially, menially, mentally, mesially, methylal, mycelial, neurally, oblately, playable, playless, playlets, playlike, raillery, rectally, reliably, retrally, saleably, serially, sexually, sleazily, syllable, tallymen, teleplay, tomalley, unreally, venially, verbally, vernally, vestally, walleyed, walleyes, weaselly, welladay, wellaway.