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# alley

«alley» in Mova's school dictionary: **a narrow lane or path between or behind buildings** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (an alley, alleys; alleyway)

### meaning for a pupil

1) An alley is a narrow lane or path between or behind buildings. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#m1)

2) A bowling alley is a building or lane where people play bowling. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#m2)

3) (informal) Something that is "up your alley" (also "right up your street") is the kind of thing you like. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In stories, alleys can be dark, quiet or a shortcut; in safety lessons children are told to avoid dark alleys alone and to use busy, well-lit routes. In everyday life bowling alleys are a fun place for parties. Phrases: «a back alley», «a dark alley», «bowling alley», «blind alley» (a dead end), «up my alley».

### examples

- The cat ran down the alley behind the shops. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#x1)
- Don't take the dark alley home; use the main road. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#x2)
- We had my birthday party at the bowling alley. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#x3)
- The alley was too narrow for a car. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#x4)
- This puzzle book is right up your alley. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#x5)
- The thief escaped through a back alley. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#x6)
- The plan led us up a blind alley. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#x7)
- In going thus from place to place, he entered a dark alley at the bottom of which was a closed door. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/#x8)

### note

Countable noun; plural «alleys» (just add -s). Do not confuse with «ally» (a friend or partner in a fight, AL-eye) or «alloy» (a mix of metals). «Alleyway» means the same as alley.

### In the corpora

- [When older boys followed Sam and Freddie, they did not run into an empty alley; they walked calmly into the newsagent's.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/371-walking-away/10/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «alley» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/alley/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.