bridewainn.
/ˈbrʌɪdweɪn/, U.S. /ˈbraɪdˌweɪn/ English regional (northern).
1. A decorated wagon used to transport linens and other household goods provided by a bride's family as a contribution to her new home. Also: the goods thus provided; (in later use) any gifts of goods or money given by friends and family to a bridal couple (see sense 2). Cf. plenishing-wain n. at plenishing n. Compounds, providing n. 2. Now historical.The wagon was sometimes used to pick up additional gifts from well-wishers along the way: cf. sense 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > wedding or nuptials > gifts and payments > [noun] > goods contributed by wife > wagon to transport
bridewainc1645
plenishing-wain1876
c1645 W. Atkins Relation of Journey (1994) 251 Their custome is to marrie as manie wives as they are able to mainteine, with whom they have no more portion then a bride waine.
1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 318 Ten or perhaps twenty pair of oxen have, on great occasions, assisted in drawing a bride-wain.
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 21 Bride-wain, a carriage loaded with household goods, travelling from the bride's father's to the bridegroom's house.
1995 Orbis Spring 51 Soon now our man will bring for each and every one a sheaf of grain, such as he gave us when we hauled the bridewain.
2018 Scarborough Evening News (Nexis) 1 May The farming community in North Yorkshire still practised customs that were medieval in origin. One such tradition was that the father of a bride-to-be provided her with a ‘bride-wain’, a cart-load of furniture and utensils for her new home.
2. A public procession in which a bride is accompanied to her new home along with her household goods and any wedding gifts. Also: a festive occasion, esp. among the rural poor, at which friends and neighbours are customarily invited to provide the means for a bridal couple to set up home. Now historical and rare.Traditionally the household goods and wedding gifts would be taken in a wagon (see sense 1), with further contributions added along the way.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > festive occasion > [noun]
festivityc1410
rejoicingc1475
festivala1500
gaudy1535
show of misrule1555
gaudc1571
wake1577
festal1581
jubilee1589
gaudy-nighta1616
gala night1762
bridewain1789
gala1800
bean-feast1805
holinighta1821
let-off1827
glorification1843
pesta1964
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > type of show or spectacle > [noun] > parade or procession > other parades or processions
progressa1556
Lord Mayor's Show1636
cavalcade1644
perahera1681
bridewain1789
Easter Parade1874
concours d'élégance1950
carcade1964
1789 Cumberland Pacquet 1 Apr. 3/4 George Hayton..purposes having a bridewain, at his House at Crosby, near Maryport, on Thursday the 7th Day of May next, (1789) where he will be happy to see his Friends and Well-Wishers.
1797 F. M. Eden State of Poor I. ii. iii. 599 At a bride-wain, (which is the carrying of a bride home,) in Cumberland, many hundreds of persons are thus brought together.
1805 J. Stagg Misc. Poems (ed. 2) 126 A youthfu pair, By frugal thrift exceyted, Wad hev a bridewain, and of course The country roun inveyted.
1858 Trans. Hist. Soc. Lancs. & Cheshire 10 102 A dwelling for some young couple who probably had to rely upon a bride-wain for means to finish and furnish it.
1908 O. Onions Pedlar's Pack xii. 242 Let it be plainly said that in Keld, when two walked thus together, they prepared for a bridewain.
1976 M. Rowling Folklore of Lake District. viii. 133 The more prosperous newly-wed bride and groom sometimes decided to hold a bridewain in their own home.
3. A carved chest traditionally used to hold linens provided by a brides's family as a contribution to her new home. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > box > [noun] > chest > for bride's clothes, etc.
bridewain1873
wedding-chest1874
cassone1882
wedding-coffer1904
1873 Spectator 23 Aug. 1069/2 One bit of furniture peculiar..to this district [sc. Whitby],—the ‘bride-wain’, or chest for wedding-clothes.
1884 Good Words 25 10 The toilet service was ranged ornamentally on a carved oak bridewain in the corner.
1926 Daily Mail 13 Jan. 15/3 The corridor was dim... Its pictures and furniture, some bookcases, and a couple of bridewains were equally sombre.
1975 A. Gilbert Look of Innocence xii. 93 A huge bridewain of black oak with brass handles darkened the opposite wall.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.c1645