ale-bush

ale-bush

English

Alternative forms

• alebush

Noun

ale-bush (plural ale-bushes)

1. (archaic) a tavern sign.
   • 1599, Henry Porter, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon, in Kind-heart's Dream: Containing Five Apparitions with Their Invectives, 1841, page 102

     for I might haue had a pumpe set vp with as good Marche beere as this was, and nere set vp an ale-bush for the matter.

   • 1902, James Henry Yoxall, The Rommany Stone, page 101:

     Copernicus grinned amorously at the ruddy stout damsel who stood, presenting arms akimbo, under the ale-bush in the latticed porch.

   • 2004, P. C. Doherty, The Hangman's Hymn: The Carpenter's Tale of Mystery and Murder, page 48:

     The place was really no more than a cottage, wattle-daubed walls and a thatched roof with an ale bush pushed under the eaves.