ˈale-ˌbench
Also 1 ealo-benc, 6 alle benche.
[ale- 4.]
A bench in or before an ale-house.
| a 1000 Beowulf 2062 Gum-manna fela, in ealo-bence. 1547 Homilies i. xii. i. (1640) 89 Which upon the Ale-benches or other places, delight to set forth certaine questions. 1556 Robinson tr. More's Utopia (1869) 26 An other sorte sytteth vpon their allebencheis..amonge their cuppes. 1644 Quarles Whipper Whipt in Chertsey Libr. I. 171 A pack of Alebench Whistlers. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 134 So will he talk when he is on the Ale-bench. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 429 Wild rumours..flew without ceasing from coffeehouse to coffeehouse and from alebench to alebench. |