A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1513, 1584-1610
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
Alley, Aley, n. Also: alie. [Var. of Allay, agreeing with the usual. Eng. Spellings.] Apath or alley. Alley bowlis, the game of bowls. 1513 Doug. xii. Prol. 158.
Phebus red fowle … Pykland his meyt in alleis quhar he went a1585 Maitland Quarto MS lxviii. 127.
Thy knottis & thy alleis fair Quhilk ar bayth braid & lang 1610 Glasgow B. Rec. I. 312.
The yardis quhair the alie bowlis … ar usit 1610 Ib.
The saidis aleis and yardis
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Alley n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/alley>
