Etymology Inherited from Middle English aldre, alder, aller, from Old English alor, from Proto-West Germanic *aluʀu, from Proto-Germanic *aluz, *alusō, *alizō, *alisō.
1
Any of several trees or shrubs of the genus Alnus, belonging to the birch family.
I’ve known ere now an interfering branch / Of alder catch my lifted axe behind me. / But that was in the woods, to hold my hand / From striking at another alder’s roots, / And that was, as I say, an alder branch.1923 October, Robert Frost, “[Notes.] The Axe-helve.”, in New Hampshire […], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 37:
Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 273:
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That's what the tiercel was doing when I found him again in the alder.1967, J. A. Baker, The Peregrine, page 40:
Almost immediately, city alders contacted the campaign to negotiate an ordinance.2004, Stephanie Luce -, Fighting for a Living Wage, page 121:
Chicago's mayor Edward Kennelly, the city alders, and many white Chicagoans opposed this siting plan.2013, Dawn Day Biehler, Pests in the City: Flies, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, and Rats, page 180:
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After three years as Ward 1 alder, Sarah Eidelson ’12 will leave city government at the end of the year.2017 September 28, Isabel Bysiewicz, “Eidelson reflects on time as alder”, in Yale Daily News: