clerk-ale
English
Noun
clerk-ale (plural clerk-ales)
- (UK, obsolete) A feast for the benefit of the parish clerk.
- 1774-1781, Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry
- That ALE is festival, appears from its sense in composition; as, amongst others, in the words Lecet-ale, Lamb-ale, Whitson-ale, Clerk-ale, and Church-ale
- 1774-1781, Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry
References
clerk-ale in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913