Word.ws English Dictionary

Adam's ale

Adam's ale noun: water.

Noun

Adam's ale (uncountable)

  1. (humorous, idiomatic) Water.
    • [T]hey have beene ſhut up in priſons and dungeons lying on the cold ground, ſtones or boards without beds, ſtraw, fire or any the leaſt refreſhment; allowed onely a poore pittance of Adams Ale, and ſcarce a penny bread a day to ſupport their lives, though their friends would provide it for them...1643, William Prynne, “The Soveraigne Power of Parliaments & Kingdomes. […]”, in The Soveraigne Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes: […], London: […] Michael Sparke Senior, →OCLC, page 32
    • She had loaded Floss into the basket, tied a sugarbag containing necessities—sketch pad, pencils, corned beef sandwiches wrapped in newsprint, a bottle of water from the garden tap, the best water, the clearest, Adam's ale — to the frame of her bicycle and set off, Floss sits up in the basket...2017, Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 59
    Synonyms:
    Adam's wine

Synonyms of Adam's ale

Origin of Adam's ale

Attested in 1643. A reference to the only drink available to Adam, the first man in the biblical tradition, while in Eden.

Questions about Adam's ale

What does Adam's ale mean?
Adam's ale means water.
What part of speech is Adam's ale?
Adam's ale is a noun.

Words near Adam's ale in the dictionary

  1. Adam and Eving
  2. Adam and Steve
  3. Adam Henry
  4. Adam Tiler
  5. Adam Tilers
  6. Adam's ale
  7. Adam's apple
  8. Adam's apples
  9. Adam's Bridge
  10. Adam's earth
  11. Adam's flannel

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Adam's ale (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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