alley

See also: Alley

English

An alley in Münster, Germany

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈæ.li/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -æli

Etymology 1

From Middle English aley, from Old French alee, feminine of alé, past participle of aler (“to go”) (French aller). Doublet of allée.

Noun

alley (plural alleys)

A narrow street or passageway, especially one through the middle of a block giving access to the rear of lots or buildings.
Synonyms: alleyway; see also Thesaurus:alley
The parking lot to my friend's apartment building is in the alley.
(baseball) The area between the outfielders.
Synonym: gap
He hit one deep into the alley.
(bowling) An establishment where bowling is played.
Synonym: bowling alley
(bowling) An elongated wooden strip of floor along which a bowling ball is rolled.
Synonym: lane
(tennis) The extra area between the sidelines or tramlines on a tennis court that is used for doubles matches.
A walk or passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees or bushes.
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, OCLC 228715864; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, OCLC 1113942837:
  I know each lane and every alley green.
A passageway between rows of pews in a church.
(perspective drawing) Any passage having the entrance represented as wider than the exit, so as to give the appearance of length.
The space between two rows of compositors' stands in a printing office.

Derived terms

alley ball
alley cat
alley crop
alley stone
alleyway
back-alley
back alley
ball alley
blind alley
bowling alley
kilowatt alley
peacock alley
power alley
right up someone's alley
shaft alley
sideshow alley
skittle alley
up someone's alley

Translations

narrow street

Abkhaz: абжьаларҭа (abžalarta)
Arabic: زُقَاق‎ m (zuqāq)
Gulf Arabic: داعوس‎ m (dāʿūs)
Hijazi Arabic: زُقَاق‎ m (zugāg)
Armenian: նրբանցք (hy) (nrbancʿkʿ)
Assamese: আলি (ali), বাট (bat)
Azerbaijani: döngə (az), alleya
Belarusian: заву́лак m (zavúlak), але́я f (aljéja)
Bengali: গলি (gôli)
Bulgarian: але́я f (aléja), паса́ж (bg) m (pasáž)
Burmese: ဒူးလမ်း (my) (du:lam:), လမ်းကြား (my) (lam:kra:)
Catalan: carreró (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 弄 (zh) (nòng), 里弄 (zh) (lǐnòng), 衚衕／胡同 (zh) (hútòng)
Coptic: ⲗⲁⲩⲣⲁ f (laura)
Czech: ulička (cs) f
Danish: gyde c
Dutch: doorgang (nl) m, steeg (nl) f
Esperanto: strateto
Estonian: allee, kuja, põiktänav (et)
Finnish: kuja (fi)
French: ruelle (fr) f, allée (fr) f
Galician: ruela f, viela f, venela f, congostra f, beque m, calella f
Georgian: შესახვევი (šesaxvevi)
German: Gasse (de) f
Greek: δρομάκι (el) n (dromáki), δρομίσκος (el) m (dromískos)
Ancient: στενωπός m (stenōpós)
Hebrew: סִמְטָה‎ (he) (simtá)
Hindi: गली (hi) f (galī)
Hungarian: sikátor (hu)
Icelandic: sund (is) n, húsasund (is) n, öngstræti n
Indonesian: gang (id)
Interlingua: vico, allée
Irish: caolsráid f, scabhat m
Italian: vicolo (it) m, calle (it) f, strettoia (it) f, viuzza f, carruggio m, vialetto (it) m
Japanese: 裏通り (うらどおり, uradōri), 路地 (ja) (ろじ, roji)
Kabuverdianu: béku, béke
Kazakh: тар көше (tar köşe), тұйық көше (tūiyq köşe), шолақ көше (şolaq köşe)
Korean: 골목 (ko) (golmok)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: کۆڵان‎ (ku) (kollan)
Northern Kurdish: kolan (ku) f
Kyrgyz: тар көчө (tar köçö), аллея (ky) (alleya)
Lao: ທາງຮ່ອມ (thāng hǭm)
Latin: angiportus m, vīculus m (Mediaeval)
Latvian: aleja f
Lithuanian: alėja (lt) f
Macedonian: сокак m (sokak)
Malay: lorong (ms)
Norwegian: strede n
Bokmål: smug n, smau (no) n
Nynorsk: smug n
Persian: کوچه‎ (fa) (kuče)
Punjabi: ਗਲੀ f (galī)
Plautdietsch: Gank m
Polish: uliczka (pl) f, aleja (pl) f, alejka (pl) f
Portuguese: beco (pt) m, ruela (pt), travessa (pt) f, viela (pt) f
Romanian: străduță (ro) f, stradelă (ro) f, alee (ro) f
Russian: переу́лок (ru) m (pereúlok), алле́я (ru) f (alléja), але́йка (ru) f (aléjka), у́лочка (ru) f (úločka)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: сокак m, уличица f, алеја f
Roman: sokak (sh) m, uličica (sh) f, aleja (sh) f
Sicilian: vaneḍḍa f,stratuzza f, violu (scn) m
Slovak: alej (sk) m, ulička f
Slovene: aleja f
Spanish: callejón (es) m, callejuela (es), calleja (es), pasaje (es) f
Swahili: uchochoro
Swedish: gränd (sv) c
Tajik: тангкӯча (tangküča), кӯчабоғ (küčaboġ), хиёбон (tg) (xiyobon), паскӯча (pasküča)
Thai: ซอย (th) (sɔɔi) (soi), ตรอก (th) (dtrɔ̀ɔk)
Tibetan: ལམ་ཆུང (lam chung)
Turkish: geçit (tr), dar sokak, pasaj (tr)
Turkmen: alleýa (tk)
Ukrainian: прову́лок (uk) m (provúlok), але́я (uk) f (aléja)
Urdu: گلی‎ f (galī)
Uyghur: تار كوچا‎ (tar kocha)
Uzbek: alleya, tor koʻcha, xiyobon (uz)
Vietnamese: hẻm (vi)
Volapük: lael (vo), lusüt (vo)
Welsh: ale f, aleon f pl
Yiddish: אַלעע‎ f (alee), געסל‎ n (gesl), הינטערגעסל‎ n (hintergesl), געסקע‎ f (geske), ליק‎ m (lik)

passage in a garden or park, bordered by rows of trees

Czech: alej (cs) f

Etymology 2

Diminutive of alabaster, from which they were once made.

Noun

alley (plural alleys)

A glass marble or taw.

Anagrams

elayl, yella