Ealuscerwen is an Old English hapax legomenon found in Beowulf (verse 769).Since it appears to refer to a part of Anglo-Saxon drinking ritual, it has commanded a lot of scholarly attention. The context in which it appears is: Slade in a footnote states that "the kenning (if it is one) is obscure". From the context it is clear that "being in ealuscerwen" is an unpleasant state. The first part of the compound is clearly ealu "ale". The second part, scerwen is less clear. A simplex *scerwen is unknown. There is a compound verb be-scerwen, meaning "to deprive".