up one's alley

al·ley

U u

Transcription

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

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

Definitions of up one's alley words

noun plural up one's alley a passage, as through a continuous row of houses, permitting access from the street to backyards, garages, etc. 1
noun plural up one's alley a narrow back street. 1
noun plural up one's alley a walk, as in a garden, enclosed with hedges or shrubbery. 1
noun plural up 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 up 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 up one's alley Rare. an aisle. 1

See all 7 definitions of up one's alley

Information block about the term

Origin of up 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 Up one's alley

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Up one's alley

up 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".