four-ale

noun

A cheap ale, sold at fourpence per quart

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Meanings

nounfour-ale (countable and uncountable, plural four-ales)

plural four-ales

  1. countableobsoleteuncountableA cheap ale, sold at fourpence per quart

    […] some of the mixture known to the working-man as "four ale," and obtained in the same locality as the porter.

    1888 October 13, “Adulteration”, in texts Saturday review of politics, literature, science and art, volume 66, number 1720, page 435
    1 more example

    I ain't going to have him a-coming here any more asking me to go for his dirty pots of four-ale and screws of tobacco[…]

    1867, “Bill Bank's Day Out”, in Andrew Halliday, editor, The Savage-Club Papers, page 217
  2. abbreviationcountableellipsisobsoleteuncountableEllipsis of four-ale bar.
Cite this entry
APA

four-ale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four-ale

MLA

“four-ale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four-ale. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “four-ale,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/four-ale.

Source: four-ale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.