Other forms: alleys
An alley is the narrow dark passage between two buildings. A back alley, down the alley, blind alley.
It is service space rather than street — bins, fire escapes, deliveries — which is why it reads as menacing in fiction and is mostly ordinary in life. A blind alley is a dead end, literally or as a line of enquiry. Right up my alley means exactly suited to me. Note bowling alley; and that the word comes from the French for going.
1nounalleyThe narrow dark passage between two buildings.
“The thief ran down a dark alley behind the shops.”
alley is a narrow passage.
Also accepted in games: alleyway
Old French alee is the past participle of aler, to go — a place for going. The French allee is the same word.
Anglo-Norman
aleie
Middle English
aleye
English, today
alley
Built from
From Middle English aleye, from Anglo-Norman aleie, feminine of alé, past participle of aler (“to go”) (French aller). a doublet of allée.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA