Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An old and etymological form of bridal.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A rustic wedding feast; a bridal. See ale.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic A rustic wedding feast; a bridal.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • As for Waltheof, whatever he had promised at the bride-ale, he had done no disloyal act; he had had no share in the rebellion, and he had told the King all that he knew.

    William the Conqueror Freeman, E A 1913

  • Weighing the accounts, it would seem that, in the excitement of the bride-ale, he consented to the treason, but that he thought better of it the next morning.

    William the Conqueror Freeman, E A 1913

  • So that, when one of the maids, wresting the stocking, fell hard against him, he clasped her in his arms and kissed her till she struggled from him to drink a mug of bride-ale.

    Privy Seal His Last Venture Ford Madox Ford 1906

  • But we've to wipe up the mess: an 'if the young men must go an' wipe it up, an 'if for them there's never to be bride-ale nor children,

    Nicky-Nan, Reservist Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1903

  • Waltheof, the last earl of purely English race, had been present at the fatal bride-ale, but though he had listened to the plottings of the conspirators, he had revealed all that he knew to

    A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3) From the earliest times to the Death of King Edward VII Samuel Rawson Gardiner 1865

  • As for Waltheof, whatever he had promised at the bride-ale, he had done no disloyal act; he had had no share in the rebellion, and he had told the King all that he knew.

    William the Conqueror Edward Augustus Freeman 1857

  • Weighing the accounts, it would seem that, in the excitement of the bride-ale, he consented to the treason, but that he thought better of it the next morning.

    William the Conqueror Edward Augustus Freeman 1857

  • And the long, square room, with the cave bed behind its shutter in the hollow of the wall, the light-coloured, square beams, and the foaming basin of bride-ale that a fat-armed girl in a blue kerseymere gown served out to scullion after scullion; the open windows from which a little knave was casting bride-pennies to some screaming beggars and women in the street; the blind hornman whose unseeing eyes glanced along the reed of his bassoon that he played before the open door; the two saucy maids striving to wrest the bride's stockings one from the other -- all these things appeared friendly and jovial in his eyes.

    Privy Seal His Last Venture Ford Madox Ford 1906

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