plur. alewives. (Indian, aloof. Alosa vernalis, Storer, Massachusetts Rep't.) A fish of the herring kind, abounding in the waters of New England.
The name appears to be an Indian one, though it is somewhat changed, as appears by the earliest account we have of it. In former times, the Indians made use of these fish to manure their lands, as the menhaden are now used.
Mr. Winthrop says, "Where the ground is bad or worn out, they put two or three of the fishes called aloofes under or adjacent to each corn-hill; whereby they had many times a double crop to what the ground would otherwise have produced. The English have learned the like husbandry, where these aloofes come up in great plenty."--Philosophical Trans. 1678.