Pl. ale-wives. [Corrupted from 17th c. aloofe, taken by some to be an American Indian name; according to others a literal error for Fr. alose a shad. Further investigation is required.] An American fish (Clupea serrata) closely allied to the herring.
[1678. Winthrop, in Phil. Trans., XII. 1066. The coming up of a Fish called Aloofes, into the Rivers…. Where the Ground is bad or worn out, the Indians used to put two or three of the forementioned Fishes, under or adjacent each Corn-hill…. The English have learned the like Husbandry, where those Aloofes come up in great plenty.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Alewife, Clupea alosa, a fish of the herring kind which appears in the Phil. Trans. for 1678 as the aloofe; the corruption therefore was a ready one.]
1847. in Craig.
1852. M. Perley, Rep. Fish. N. Brunsw. (ed. 2), 208. The alewive appears in great quantities in the Chesapeake, in March.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind., 15. The refuse of the gasworks … supplied him [the crow] with dead alewives in abundance.
