[ale.wife] n (15c): a woman who keeps an alehouse
[2]alewife n [perh. alter. of obs. allowes, a kind of shad, fr. F alose shad, fr. OF, fr. LL alausa] (1633): a clupeid food fish (Alosa pseudoharengus) very abundant along the Atlantic coast; also: any of several related fishes (as the menhaden)