hedge alehouse

English

Etymology

From hedge (“third-rate”) + alehouse (“inn, tavern”). Compare hedge priest, hedge whore.

Noun

hedge alehouse (plural hedge alehouses)

1. (historical) An inferior inn or tavern.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pub

   • [1785, Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue‎^[1]:

     HEDGE ALEHOUSE, a ſmall obſcure alehouſe.]

   • 1897, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Adventure of the Attorney’s Clerk”, in St. Ives‎^[2]:

     ‘Where is your warrant, if you come to that?’ said I. ‘My papers! A likely thing that I would show my papers on the ipse dixit of an unknown fellow in a hedge alehouse!’

Related terms

• hedge tavern