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 0930773179.

     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.^[1]

Anagrams

• apostle, Apostle

References

1. ↑ Walter William Skeat, Chaucer's Works, notes on the prologue to the Cantebury Tales.