Church-ale

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A church or parish festival (as in commemoration of the dedication of a church), at which much ale was drunk. countable, historical, uncountable

    "If many be at an Alehouse , a Christmaſſe dinner, or Churchale, and ( without any intention of an Affray) they ſodainly fall together by the eares[…]"

  2. 2
    The strong ale brewed for this purpose. countable, uncountable

Example

More examples

"If many be at an Alehouse , a Christmaſſe dinner, or Churchale, and ( without any intention of an Affray) they ſodainly fall together by the eares[…]"

Etymology

From Middle English cherche ale.

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