alley

See also: Alley

English

An alley in Münster, Germany

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæ.li/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æli

Etymology 1

From Middle English aley, from Old French alee, feminine of alé, past participle of aler (“to go”) (French aller). Doublet of allée.

Noun

alley (plural alleys)

1. A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots of buildings.

   Synonyms: alleyway; see also Thesaurus:alley

   The parking lot to my friend's apartment building is in the alley.

2. (baseball) The area between the outfielders.

   Synonym: gap

   He hit one deep into the alley.

3. (bowling) An establishment where bowling is played.

   Synonym: bowling alley

4. (bowling) An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled.

   Synonym: lane

5. (tennis) The extra area between the sidelines or tramlines on a tennis court that is used for doubles matches.
7. A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.
   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:

     I know each lane and every alley green.

8. A passageway between rows of pews in a church.
9. (perspective drawing) Any passage having the entrance represented as wider than the exit, so as to give the appearance of length.
10. The space between two rows of compositors' stands in a printing office.
11. (informal, rare) A group of clowns; the collective noun for clowns.
    • 2017, Charles William Jefford, Academia Nuts, page 78:

      […] alley of clowns had sprung like a fungus growth from the dung heap of the First World War.

    • 2021, T. K. Wrathbone, All Clowns Must Die!:

      “ […] Something must've happened to him when he was little.”
      “Which would give him a reason to hate them,” Oliver replied and was pushed aside by an alley of clowns. “Hey!”
      “Sorry, kid. Didn't see you there,” one clown called over.

Derived terms

• alley apple
• alley ball
• alley cat
• alley crop
• alleyed
• alleygating
• alleylike
• alley stone
• alleyway
• back-alley
• back alley
• ball alley
• blind alley
• bowling alley
• down someone's alley
• kilowatt alley
• MiG Alley
• O'Malley's Alley
• peacock alley
• power alley
• right up someone's alley
• shaft alley
• sideshow alley
• skittle alley
• Stroke Alley
• up someone's alley

 

Translations

narrow street

• Abkhaz: абжьаларҭа (abžalarta)
• Arabic: زُقَاق m (zuqāq)

  Egyptian Arabic: زقاق m (zuʔāʔ), حارة f (ḥāra)

  Gulf Arabic: داعوس m (dāʕūs)

  Hijazi Arabic: زُقَاق m (zugāg)

• Armenian: նրբանցք (hy) (nrbancʻkʻ)
• Assamese: আলি (ali), বাট (bat)
• Azerbaijani: döngə (az), alleya, küçə (az) (South Azerbaijani)
• Belarusian: заву́лак m (zavúlak), але́я f (aljéja), але́йка f (aljéjka), ву́лачка f (vúlačka), ву́лка f (vúlka)
• Bengali: গলি (bn) (goli)
• Bulgarian: але́я f (aléja), паса́ж (bg) m (pasáž)
• Burmese: ဒူးလမ်း (my) (du:lam:), လမ်းကြား (my) (lam:kra:)
• Catalan: carreró (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 巷 (hong⁶), 巷仔 (hong⁶ zai²)

  Hakka: 巷仔 (hong-é)

  Hokkien: 巷 (zh-min-nan) (hāng), 巷仔 (zh-min-nan) (hāng-á)

  Jin: 黑浪 (heh⁴ lon²)

  Mandarin: 弄 (zh) (nòng), 里弄 (zh) (lǐlòng), 衚衕／胡同 (zh) (hútòng), 巷子 (zh) (xiàngzi)

  Wu: 弄堂 (⁶lon-daon)

  Xiang: 巷子 (han⁵ zr)

• Coptic: ⲗⲁⲩⲣⲁ f (laura), ⲣⲁⲃⲏ f (rawa), ⲣⲁⲟⲩⲏ f (rawa)
• Czech: ulička (cs) f
• Danish: gyde c
• Dutch: doorgang (nl) m, steeg (nl) f
• Esperanto: strateto
• Estonian: allee, kuja, põiktänav (et)
• Finnish: kuja (fi)
• French: ruelle (fr) f, allée (fr) f, venelle (fr) f
• Galician: ruela f, viela f, venela f, congostra f, beque m, calella f
• Georgian: შესახვევი (šesaxvevi)
• German: Gasse (de) f
• Greek: δρομάκι (el) n (dromáki), δρομίσκος (el) m (dromískos)

  Ancient: στενωπός m (stenōpós)

• Hebrew: סִמְטָה (he) (simtá)
• Hindi: गली (hi) f (galī), कूचा (hi) m (kūcā)
• Hungarian: sikátor (hu)
• Icelandic: sund (is) n, húsasund (is) n, öngstræti n
• Indonesian: gang (id)
• Interlingua: vico, allée
• Irish: caolsráid f, scabhat m
• Italian: vicolo (it) m, calle (it) f, strettoia (it) f, viuzza f, carruggio m, vialetto (it) m
• Japanese: 裏通り (ja) (うらどおり, uradōri), 路地 (ja) (ろじ, roji)
• Kabuverdianu: béku, béke
• Kazakh: тар көше (tar köşe), тұйық көше (tūiyq köşe), шолақ көше (şolaq köşe)
• Korean: 골목 (ko) (golmok), 골목길 (ko) (golmokgil)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کۆڵان (kollan)

  Northern Kurdish: kolan (ku) f, ziqaq (ku)

• Kyrgyz: тар көчө (tar köcö), аллея (ky) (alleya)
• Lao: ທາງຮ່ອມ (thāng hǭm)
• Latin: angiportus m, vīculus m (Mediaeval)
• Latvian: aleja f, ieliņa f
• Lithuanian: alėja (lt) f, gatvelė f
• Macedonian: сокак m (sokak)
• Malay: lorong (ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: smug n, smau (no) n, strede n

  Nynorsk: smug n

• Occitan: passatge (oc) m, andana (oc) f
• Pashto: کوڅه ګۍ f (kuca gǝy)
• Persian:

  Dari: کوچَه (fa) (kōča)

  Iranian Persian: کوچِه (fa) (kuče)

• Plautdietsch: Gank m
• Polish: uliczka (pl) f, aleja (pl) f, alejka (pl) f
• Portuguese: beco (pt) m, ruela (pt), travessa (pt) f, viela (pt) f
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਗਲੀ f (galī)

  Shahmukhi: گَلی f (galī)

• Romanian: străduță (ro) f, stradelă (ro) f, alee (ro) f
• Russian: переу́лок (ru) m (pereúlok), алле́я (ru) f (alléja), але́йка (ru) f (aléjka), у́лочка (ru) f (úločka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: со̀ка̄к m, у̏личица f, алеја f

  Roman: sòkāk (sh) m, ȕličica (sh) f, aleja (sh) f

• Sicilian: vaneḍḍa f,stratuzza f, violu (scn) m
• Slovak: alej (sk) m, ulička f
• Slovene: aleja f
• Spanish: callejón (es) m, callejuela (es), calleja (es), esquinita (Philippines), pasaje (es) f
• Swahili: uchochoro
• Swedish: gränd (sv) c
• Tajik: тангкӯча (tangküča), кӯчабоғ (küčaboġ), хиёбон (tg) (xiyobon), паскӯча (pasküča)
• Thai: ซอย (th) (sɔɔi) (soi), ตรอก (th) (dtrɔ̀ɔk)
• Tibetan: ལམ་ཆུང (lam chung)
• Turkish: geçit (tr), dar sokak, pasaj (tr)
• Turkmen: alleýa (tk)
• Ukrainian: прову́лок (uk) m (provúlok), заву́лок m (zavúlok), але́я (uk) f (aléja), але́йка (uk) f (aléjka), ву́личка f (vúlyčka)
• Urdu: گَلی f (galī), کُوچَہ m (kūca)
• Uyghur: تار كوچا (tar kocha)
• Uzbek: alleya, tor koʻcha, xiyobon (uz)
• Vietnamese: hẻm (vi)
• Volapük: lael (vo), lusüt (vo)
• Welsh: ale f, aleon f pl
• Yiddish: אַלעע f (alee), געסל n (gesl), הינטערגעסל n (hintergesl), געסקע f (geske), ליק m (lik)

passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees

• Czech: alej (cs) f

Etymology 2

Diminutive of alabaster, from which they were once made.

Noun

alley (plural alleys)

1. A marble (small ball used in games).

Derived terms

• blood alley

Anagrams

• elayl, yella