▪ I.alley|ˈælɪ|Forms: 4–6 aley, aleye, 5 aly, alaye, 6 ally, 6– alley. pl.alleys, formerly often allies.[a.OFr.alee,mod.Fr.allée, 1. the act of walking, passage, 2. a walk or passage.]I.A walk, a passage.†1.a.A passage in or into a house; a covered way. Obs.1388Wyclif1 Kings vii. 2He bildide foure aleis[1382 aluris]bitwixe the pilers of cedre.c1400Destr. Troy xii. 4978Mony long chaumburs, Goand vp by degres þurgh mony gay alys.1475CaxtonJason 86 b,For ther was no more..but a litil aleye from her chambre to his.1480―Chron.Eng.vii. (1520) 115 b/2An aleye that stretcheth out of the warde under the erth into the forsayd castell.1525Ld.Berners Froissart II. cxvi.[cxii.]334The aley vnder couert endured fro their garyson a seuen or eight leages.b.fig.1602Shakes.Ham.i. v. 67The natural Gates and Allies of the Body.II.esp.A bordered walk or passage.2. a.A walk in a garden, park, shrubbery, maze, or wood, generally bordered with trees, or bushes; an avenue; also the spaces between beds of flowers or plants, or between the rows of hops in a hop-garden.1382WyclifSong of Sol. xi. 1,I am the flour of the feeld, and the lilie of aleyes.c1386ChaucerFrankl. T. 285And in the Aleyes[v.r. aleyes, -eis, -ies]romeden vp and doun.1440Promp. Parv.,Aley yn gardyne. Peribolus.1578LyteDodoens xx. 575Wild[purslowe]groweth of his owne accorde in wayes and alies of gardens.1594PlatJewell-ho. i. 48Throughout all the allies of his hop garden.1599Shakes.Much Ado i. ii. 10Walking in a thick pleached alley in my orchard.1601HollandPliny (1634) I. 527The allies that lie between the beds.1625BaconEss.(Arb.) 563These closer alleys must be ever finely gravelled.1637MiltonComus 311Each lane, and every alley green Dingle or bushy dell of this wild wood.1716–8Lady M. MontagueLett.I. x. 36At the end of the fine alley in the garden.1809BrydoneSicily xxi. 217The approach to Palermo is fine. The alleys are planted with fruit-trees.1848L. HuntJar of Honey ix. 125A walk down an alley of roses.1849RuskinSev.Lamps ii. §xv. 43Pictured landscapes at the extremities of alleys and arcades.1861DelamerKitchenGard.41Beds four feet in width, with a foot-wide alley between each bed.1863LongfellowWayside Inn, Theolog. T. 93He walked all night the alleys of his park.1867M. E. BraddonR. Godwin I. i. 4Under the shelter of a long alley of hazel and filbert trees.1878R. StevensonInlandVoy.,With alleys of trees along the embankment.b.fig.1765TuckerLt.Nat.I. 554We are now striking into another alley, and starting a different question.3. a.A passage between buildings; hence, a narrow street, a lane; usually only wide enough for foot-passengers. blind alley: one that is closed at the end, so as to be no thoroughfare; a cul de sac. the Alley, particularly applied to Change Alley, London, scene of the gambling in South Sea and other stocks. (InU.S.applied to what in London is called a Mews.)c1510Cocke Lorelles Bote 6Also in ave maria aly, and at westmenster, And some in shordyche.1583StanyhurstAeneis ii. (1880) 66Through crosse blynd allye we iumble.1615SandysTrav.12The buildings meane, the streets no larger than allies.1687Lond.Gaz.mmccxcviii/4In a paved Alley nearSt.Sepulchres Church in London.1711AddisonSpect.No.8 ⁋3The Lanes and Allies that are inhabited by Common Swearers.c1713H. Carey (title)Sally in our Alley.1720The Bubblers Medley (title)Stock Jobbing Cards, or the Humours of Change Alley.1720Swift inBk.of Days I. 146There is a gulf where thousands fell..A narrow sound though deep as hell, ‘Change Alley’ is the dreadful name.1722De FoePlague 167The mortality was great in the yard or alley.1728NewtonChronol.Amend. v. 340Buildings..with a walk or alley between them.1775Ash,Alley..the place in the city of London where the public funds are bought and sold.1861StanleyEastCh.ii. (1869) 62The dark corners of London alleys.1863R. ChambersBk.of Days I. 146Exchange Alley was the seat of the gambling fever.1876WorldNo.107, 12Some who write of Courts, are more familiar with alleys.b.A back-lane running parallel with a main street. U.S.1729inBaltimore TownRec.(1905) 10The commissioners..shall cause the same Sixty Acres to be..divided into convenient Streets, Lanes, and Allies, as near as may be into Sixty equal lots.1747Ibid.22To Survey the Same and lay it out into Lotts with convenient Streets and Alleys.1817S. R. BrownWesternGaz.90There are three streets,..besides lanes and alleys.Ibid.101Each block of lots has the advantage of two 16 feet alleys.1835J. MartinGazetteer Virginia 139Fire plugs are connected with the distributing pipes at every intersection of the alleys with 2nd and 3rd streets.1890J. A. RiisHow other Half Lives (1891) 21A notorious Fourth Ward alley.c.to be up a person's alley: to be up a person's street(seestreetn.). slang.1931M. E. GilmanSob Sister v. 65It's about time a good murder broke, and this one is right up your alley.1936D. CarnegieHow to win Friends (1938) iv. viii. 247Bridge will be in a cinch for you. It is right up your alley.1941AudenNew YearLet.ii. p. 37All vague idealistic art That coddles the uneasy heart, Is up his alley.1954R. P. BissellHigh Water (1955) iii. 32Right up your alley with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse and all them other uplifting characters you are always studying up on.1965New Statesman 9 Apr. 583/2Its slogans and chirpy recommendations are right up her spiritual alley.4. a.A long narrow enclosure for playing at bowls, skittles, etc.a1400Squyr of lowe Degre 804An hundreth knightes, truly tolde, Shall play with bowles in alayes colde.1615Country Contentm. in Strutt Sports & Past. (1876) 363Flat bowles being best for allies, your round byazed bowles for open grounds.1661PepysDiary 5 June,Sir W. Pen and I went home with Sir R. Slingsby to bowles in his ally.1801StruttSports & Past. (1810) 237The little room required for making these bowling alleys was no small cause of their multiplication.1844Ord.& Regul. Army §438Skittle Alleys are repaired by the Royal Engineer Department.b.fig.1594PlatJewell-ho. iii. 2The aire will be a player, vnlesse you can keepe it out of the Alley perforce.1612BaconEss., Cunning (Arb.) 434Such Men are fitter for Practise, then for Counsell; And they are good but in their own Alley: Turne them to New Men, and they have lost their Ayme.5.A passage between the rows of pews or seats in a church. Still used in thenorth.In the south corruptly replaced by aisle.[1464inTest.Ebor. II. 268In medio ambulatorii coram crucifixo.]1508Ibid.VII. 28[To be buried]afore y⊇ rode in y⊇ ally.1558inRichmond Wills 180To be buried in the mydde allie before the quere dore.1603HollandPlutarch's Mor. 1295Temples, which in some places have faire open Isles and pleasant allies.1686OldhamSatyrs 193At Church..you in the Alley stand, and sneak.1697Bp.of Lincoln in Southey Comm.-Pl.Bk.Ser.ii. 68So strait a place as an ally of the Church.1776WesleyWks.1872 IV. 71The church was crowded, pews, alleys, and galleries.¶As aisle was erroneously put for alley, so alley has been used for aisle (ala).1731Derby inPhil.Trans.XLI. 229The Leads and Timber of great Part of the North Alley of the Church was broke in.6.In a printing-office, the space between two compositors' stands, or between two printing-presses.1871RingwaltEncycl.Pr.27. 1875 Southward Dict.Pr.4.7.A passage or free space between two lines of any kind.1756WartonEss.Pope II. §8. (1782) 30It is a description of an alley of fish-women.1856KaneArct. Expl. I. xxv. 329We were in an alley of pounded ice-masses.8.The ambulacrum in the shell of an echinoderm.1835KirbyHab.&Inst.Anim.I. vi. 208Those parts (of the shell of sea urchins) void of spines called the alleys.†9.=alure: a gallery round the roof. Obs.c1380WyclifSel.Wks.(1869) I. 110Aboue þe pynacle of þe temple þat sum men seyen weren þe aleis.10.Comb.or attrib.as alley maker, alley making, etc. alley cat (chiefly U.S.), a cat that frequents alleys, a stray cat, also (U.S.slang) transf.(seeesp.quot.1942).1552Huloet,Aley maker, Topiarius. Aley makynge, Topiaria.1904Atlantic Monthly Mar. 369/1If you were just an alley-cat you wouldn't even get the chloroform.1914E. Pound inBlast i. 50For her laughter frightens even the street hawker And the alley cat dies of a migraine.1916Don Marquis inEvening Sun (N.Y.) 1 Sept. 10/4Ours is the zest of the alley cat.1926S. LewisMantrap iv. 44Thinking up a way of insulting that mangy alley cat!1941Time 16 June 85/1[list of words not to be used in film scripts]Alley cat (applied to a woman).1942Berrey & Van den BarkAmer.Thes.Slang §418. 2Ragamuffin..alley cat.Ibid.§439. 2Slut, alley cat.Ibid.§507. 2Prostitute, alley cat.1946M. DickensHappy Prisoner viii. 149They're as quarrelsome as a couple of alley cats.▸ Lawn Tennis (chiefly N.Amer.). The strip between the singles and doubles sidelines on each side of the court.Cf.tram-linen.2.1904J. P. Paret et al.Lawn Tennis 334Alley, a slang expression defining the strip of court lying between the sidelines for singles and doubles.1932W. FaulknerSartoris III. ii. 187[I']d kept letting 'em get my alley.1986New Yorker 13 Oct. 124/1She lost the point when she hit a loose forehand volley into the alley.2000HoustonChron.(Nexis) 6 Feb. 7At deuce in the final game, Ullyett fired a backhand service return winner down the alley.▪ II.alleyvar.ally, a kind of marble.