alias, adv. and n.
(ˈeɪlɪəs, ˈælɪəs)
[a. L. alias ‘at another time, otherwise’; adopted in Eng. chiefly in the latter sense.]
‖ A. adv. Otherwise (called or named). Now written in italics.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scotl. II. 354 Callit Gillelmus alias Gilmoure. 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 48 Violent testie Magistrates (alias Fooles). 1709 Lond. Gaz. mmmmdlxi/4 The Parish of Stepney, alias Stebonheath. 1840 Hood Up Rhine 202 Louisa Brachman, alias Sappho..threw herself from a gallery, two stories high. |
B. n. (with pl. aliases.)
1. Another name, an assumed name.
| 1605 Camden Rem. (1614) 147 An Aliàs or double name cannot preiudice the honest. 1831 Edin. Rev. LIII. 364 He has been assuming various aliases. 1861 Macaulay Hist. Eng. V. 92 The monk who was sometimes called Harrison and sometimes went by the alias of Johnson. |
† 2. Law. A second or further writ issued after a first had failed of its effect, so called from the words Sicut alias præcipimus (as we on another occasion command) which occurred in it. Obs.
| 1672 Manley Interpr., Alias Vide Capias alias. 1714 Sir W. Scroggs Pract. Courts (ed. 3) 173 Then the Plaintiff may have an Alias. 1768 Blackst. Comm. III. 135 To delay his obedience to the first writ, and..wait till a second and a third, called an alias and a pluries, were issued. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict. s.v. Capias, An alias writ..to the same effect as the former. |