alekeeper

English

Etymology

From ale +‎ keeper.

Noun

alekeeper (plural alekeepers)

1. An alehouse-keeper, a person who operates an alehouse; a tavernkeeper, an alekeep.
   • 2015, Iris Collier, Day Of Wrath, Piatkus, →ISBN:

     But that Friday morning there was an air of intensity about them that made her rein in Melissa and dismount. They were so engrossed in their discussion that they hadn't seen her ride up, until the alekeeper's wife, Biddy Tomkins, turned round ...

   • 2015, Valerie Traub, Thinking Sex with the Early Moderns, University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 190:

     The word appears in a defamation case from Somerset in 1600 as an insult directed toward an alekeeper's wife: "she fucketh in every corner with every knave that cometh to thy house."