Meanings
plural hedge alehouses
- historicalAn inferior inn or tavern.
HEDGE ALEHOUSE, a ſmall obſcure alehouſe.
[1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue1 more example
‘Where is your warrant, if you come to that?’ said I. ‘My papers! A likely thing that I would show my papers on the ipse dixit of an unknown fellow in a hedge alehouse!’
1897, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Adventure of the Attorney’s Clerk”, in St. IvesSynonyms: alehouse, boozer, boozing ken, bousing ken, drinker, drinkery, gargle-factory, gin joint
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From hedge (“third-rate”) + alehouse (“inn, tavern”). Compare hedge priest, hedge whore.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hedge alehouse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hedge%20alehouse
“hedge alehouse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hedge%20alehouse. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hedge alehouse,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hedge%20alehouse.
Source: hedge alehouse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.