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down one's alley

al·ley
D d

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [al-ee]
    • /daʊn wʌnz ˈæl i/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [al-ee]
    • /daʊn wʌnz ˈæl i/

Definitions of down one's alley words

  • noun plural down one's alley a passage, as through a continuous row of houses, permitting access from the street to backyards, garages, etc. 1
  • noun plural down one's alley a narrow back street. 1
  • noun plural down one's alley a walk, as in a garden, enclosed with hedges or shrubbery. 1
  • noun plural down one's alley Bowling. a long, narrow, wooden lane or floor along which the ball is rolled. (often plural) a building for bowling. bowling green. 1
  • noun plural down one's alley Tennis. the space on each side of a tennis court between the doubles sideline and the service or singles sideline. 1
  • noun plural down one's alley Rare. an aisle. 1
See all 7 definitions of down one's alley

Information block about the term

Origin of down one's alley

First appearance:

before 1350
One of the 20% oldest English words
1350-1400; Middle English al(e)y < Middle French alee walk, passage, derivative of feminine of ale, past participle of aler to walk (French aller), probably < Vulgar Latin *allārī, regularized from allātus, the suppletive past participle of afferre to bring (passive afferrī to be moved, conveyed, to betake oneself); French aller often allegedly < Latin ambulāre to walk (see amble), but this offers grave phonetic problems, since the m and b would not normally be lost

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Down one's alley

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Full grammatical hierarchy of Down one's alley

down one's alley popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 96% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

See also

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