noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An officer, appointed yearly, who tasted ale (as well as bread), to ensure its quality. The role remains in the 21st century, albeit mostly ceremonial UK, historical
2. 2
   One of the officers chosen by the liverymen of London, England for inspecting the measures used in public houses. UK, historical

Synonyms

All synonyms

aletasteraletaster

Etymology

From ale + con + -er, from Old English cunnen (“to test”), from cunnian (“to test”).

Related phrases

public house

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.