ale post

English

Alternative forms

• ale-post
• alepost

Noun

ale post (plural ale posts)

1. A post displaying a pub sign; an alestake.
   • 1808, Joseph Hall, Works:

     O honor, farre beyond a brazen shrine,
     To sit with Tarleton on an ale post's signe

   • 1957, Alfred Edgar Coppard, It's Me, O Lord!:

     I believe it was the George the Something or other, although I feel sure that no monarch of any era would have felt at home in the neighbourhood or been gratified by the alepost's honourable mention of him.

   • 1991, Simone Zelitch, The Confession of Jack Straw, →ISBN:

     I looked for the alepost of the Fighting Cock, and found none.

Usage notes

Many nineteenth century dictionaries and wordlists define ale post as a maypole. This is an error which originated in Thomas Speght's Life of Chaucer and was copied by others.

Anagrams

• Apostle, alepots, apostle, eoplast, posetal