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单词 bridge
释义

bridgen.1

Brit. /brɪdʒ/, U.S. /brɪdʒ/
Forms:

α. Old English bric (rare), Old English brigg- (inflected form, rare), Old English brincgum (dative plural, transmission error), Old English bryc (rare), Old English brycc- (inflected form, rare), Old English brygc, Old English brygg- (inflected form, rare), Old English–early Middle English (in copy of Old English charter) bricg, Old English (rare)–early Middle English (in copy of Old English charter) bricgg- (inflected form), Old English–early Middle English (in copy of Old English charter) brigc- (inflected form), Old English–early Middle English (in copy of Old English charter) brycg, late Old English bricc- (inflected form), late Old English brig- (inflected form), late Old English bryce- (in compound), early Middle English brecge (in copy of Old English charter), early Middle English bregg (Sussex), early Middle English brucge (in copy of Old English charter), early Middle English brugg (Sussex), early Middle English brycgge (in copy of Old English charter), early Middle English byrcg (in copy of Old English charter), Middle English brege, Middle English brig, Middle English brigg (London), Middle English brygg (Kent), Middle English (1500s in a compound) bryg, Middle English–1500s bregge, Middle English–1500s brydge, Middle English–1500s bryge, Middle English–1500s brygge, Middle English–1500s (1800s– English regional (south-western) and Scottish) brudge, Middle English–1500s (1800s Irish English (Wexford)) bruge, Middle English–1600s brige, Middle English–1600s brigge, Middle English–1600s brugge, Middle English– bridge, 1500s brayge, 1500s brycche, 1500s bryche, 1500s pridge (in representations of Welsh English), 1500s–1600s bridg, 1800s bredge (English regional (Suffolk)).

β. northern, midlands, and East Anglian Middle English bregg, Middle English brug, Middle English brugg, Middle English bryg, Middle English 1600s 1800s brigg, Middle English–1500s brygg, Middle English– brig; Scottish pre-1700 breg, pre-1700 breig, pre-1700 brige, pre-1700 brigge, pre-1700 bryg, pre-1700 bryge, pre-1700 1700s–1900s brigg, pre-1700 1700s– brig, 1900s breeg (Caithness).

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian bregge (West Frisian brêge), Old Dutch brugga (in place names; Middle Dutch brugge, Dutch brug), Old Saxon bruggia (Middle Low German brugge, brügge), Old High German brugga, brucca (Middle High German brucke, brücke, German Brücke), all in the sense ‘bridge’, and also with Old Icelandic bryggja landing stage, wharf, gangway, (also) bridge, Old Swedish bryggia landing stage, wharf (Swedish brygga), Old Danish brygge landing stage, wharf (Danish brygge), probably < the same Indo-European base as Gaulish brīua bridge (only in place names), Old Russian brĭvĭ log, Old Czech břev small bridge, Serbian and Croatian brv log bridge, and (with a suffix) Old Church Slavonic brĭvŭno log.The usual Scandinavian word for ‘bridge’ is reflected by early Scandinavian (runic: Sweden) brō , Old Icelandic brú , Old Swedish, Swedish bro , Old Danish, Danish bro , apparently < a different stem form of the same Germanic base. It has been suggested that the Germanic base is the same as that of brow n.1, but this poses semantic problems. Variant forms. The word-final voiced affricate /dʒ/ in modern standard English (see α. forms) reflects palatalization and assibilation in Old English of the earlier (geminate) voiced velar plosive /ɡɡ/; in Old English the affricate is usually written cg . The palatalization was caused by the same stem-forming suffix that also caused i-mutation of the stem vowel. The β. forms (midland, northern, and Scots), show retention of (degeminated) velar /ɡ/; compare discussion at ridge n.1 In these forms the English word may have been reinforced by its early Scandinavian cognate, especially if this was used more widely in a sense ‘bridge’ in England, either as the result of semantic influence from English, or as a reflex of an inherited sense ‘bridge’ in early Scandinavian, which is also sometimes attested in Old Icelandic. (This interpretation is supported by the absence of place names reflecting a cognate of Old Icelandic brú in England.) As Middle English spellings with gg and g are ambiguous, only evidence from areas of Scandinavian settlement in England have been included in the β. forms (alongside Scots forms); if the same spelling also occurs in other regions, the form is also listed with the α. forms. Specific senses. With medieval and early modern uses compare Anglo-Norman and Old French, French pont (see pont n.1), and its etymon classical Latin pons (see pons n.), both of which have similar semantic ranges. In use with reference to ships and ports (see sense 4) apparently partly after early Scandinavian (compare the Scandinavian senses listed above), and probably partly also (especially with use in London: see sense 4a) after Middle Low German, where the sense ‘landing stage’ is also recorded (probably in turn after a Scandinavian language). In sense 4a attested earlier in the names of such landing stages in London, e.g. Lauendresbrigge (first half of the 14th cent.), Bochersbregge (a1369), Templebrigge (a1374), all now lost. With these uses compare also post-classical Latin pons gangway (from the late 12th cent. in British sources), landing stage (14th cent. in British sources with reference to named wharves), and Anglo-Norman pont gangway (12th cent.), landing stage (14th cent. with reference to a named wharf). These probably show semantic influence from either early Scandinavian or Middle English (in the latter case, implying earlier use in this sense in English). In use with reference to parts of the brain (see quot. 11) after post-classical Latin pons, in the same sense (1573 in the same source as pons cerebelli : see pons cerebelli n.).
I. A structure connecting two points of land, and related uses.
1. A structure forming or carrying a road, path, or (in later use) a railway, etc., which spans a body of water, a roadway, a valley, or some other obstacle or gap, and allows a person or vehicle to pass unimpeded over or across it.Bridges vary in complexity from a simple plank, or a single arch, stretching from bank to bank over a stream, to an elaborate structure of architectural or engineering skill, supported by arches, piers, girders, cantilevers, etc., and sometimes spanning a considerable distance.air bridge, canal bridge, chain bridge, covered bridge, footbridge, moat bridge, pontoon bridge, railway bridge, rope bridge, suspension bridge, toll bridge, etc.: see the first element .When referring to a specific bridge the word is often preceded by a place name, or the name of the body of water over which it passes, or by another descriptive word or phrase; as London bridge, Forth bridge, Golden Gate bridge, Tower bridge, etc. Established formations of this type are now usually apprehended as proper nouns, with the second element capitalized.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > bridge
bridgeeOE
pont1279
pontifice1667
α.
eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 920 Eadweard cyning..het gewyrcan..þa brycge ofer Treontan betwix þam twam burgum.
OE Vision of Leofric in Rev. Eng. Stud. (2012) 63 548 Him þuhte..þæt he sceolde nede ofer ane swiðe smale bricge, & seo wæs swiþe lang.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 7793 Þis bachelers hadden a bregge Ypassed.
?a1500 (?1458) in J. H. Parker Some Acct. Domest. Archit. (1859) III. ii. 41 (MED) Kyng Herry..hathe i founde for his folke a brige in Berkeschire.
1552–3 Inv. Ch. Goods Staffords. 33 To make a bruge called Hugh Bruge.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III iii. ii. 67 They account his head vpon the bridge . View more context for this quotation
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xvii. 675/1 [He] came hastily to the Brigge.
1685 R. Morden Geogr. Rectified 112 Cæsar's Bridg over the Rhine is one of the antientest in Europe.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations II. v. i. 331 A highway, a bridge, a navigable canal..may..be..maintained by a small toll upon the carriages which make use of them.
1836 Penny Cycl. V. 413/1 The first iron bridge built in England..consists of one arch upwards of 100 ft. wide.
1891 R. Routledge Discov. & Inventions 19th Cent. (ed. 8) 213 The great Forth Bridge..is the first bridge on the cantilever and central girder principle.
1907 Ont. Law Rep. 12 415 The Toronto Electric Light Company carried their wires west of the bridge across the ravine.
1992 Independent 25 Sept. 3/4 (caption) One of five large lifting barges which will be used in the construction of the second bridge across the Severn Estuary.
2013 Oldie Apr. 57/1 I came over a blue brick bridge across the deep cutting of the old Great Central Railway line.
β. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8945 Þai..mad a brig Ouer a litel burn to lig.a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 41 (MED) Hit is hard to passe a depe water withoute a brig.1572 P. R. Lament. Lady Scotl. sig. a.vv Palice Kirk and brig Better in tyme to beit, nor efter to big.1787 R. Burns Poems (new ed.) 71 The Sprites that owre the Brigs of Ayr preside.1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 46 He lov'd to view the mossy-arched brigs.1988 Chapman 52 70 An sae they sat,..an ahint them the twa brigs, an the muckle black ile-tankers that soomed back an forrit.
2. figurative and in figurative contexts. Something resembling a bridge in form or function; that which spans a (physical or notional) gap between two things; esp. a person or thing which connects, reconciles, or unites different groups, events, periods, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > [noun] > that which connects or bond
bridgeOE
chain1377
bond1382
connex1490
link1548
conjunction1570
solder1599
claspa1674
vinculum1678
tie1711
concatenation1726
umbilical cord1753
thread1818
colligation1850
OE Homily: Larspell (Corpus Cambr. 419) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 239 Eac beðearf seo sawel on domesdæg rihtes weges and clænes and staðolfæstre brycge ofer þone glideran weg hellewites brogan.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 178 Ȝe beoð ouer þis worldes sea up on þe brugge of heouene.
?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 75 (MED) Þere is maad a brigge of þis body of Crist for þe oonheed of dyuyn nature with oure nature of manheed.
1627 S. Denison White Wolfe 37 Wee haue Arminian Wolues, which make a bridge betweene vs and Popery.
1745 E. Young Complaint: Night the Eighth 36 Faith builds a Bridge from This World to the Next.
1747 Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 433/2 The whole earth, in the opinion of some philosophers, is but a kind of bridge..to the great body of waters included in it.
1874 A. H. Sayce Princ. Compar. Philol. i. 53 Gestures..forming the bridge by which we may pass over into spoken language.
1914 Harvard Oriental Series 17 p. ix The historical importance of those texts, as forming a bridge between the philosophy of ancient India and..the religious thought of to-day in Eastern Asia.
1955 Times 23 July 6/3 The Constitution would then be a sham and a cul de sac, not a bridge to self-government later.
1964 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xxxi. 508 Sometimes a bridge of skin links the coloboma to the globe.
1999 Times Educ. Suppl. 7 May (First Appointments Suppl.) 19/6 Teacher governors are..there..to bring teachers' concerns to the attention of governors, and generally to act as a bridge to the staffroom.
2015 T. Dixon in G. Graham Sc. Philos. in 19th & 20th Cent. ii. 23 His [sc. Thomas Brown's] thought provided a bridge between the Scottish school of ‘Common Sense’..and the later positivism of John Stuart Mill and others.
3. A bridge, typically over a castle's moat, which is hinged at one end so that it may be raised to prevent people crossing; a drawbridge. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > defence > defensive work(s) > moat > [noun] > draw-bridge
bridgec1275
tu-brugge1297
draught-bridgec1330
draughtc1400
drawbridgec1400
flying bridge1489
pont-levis1489
trap-bridge1585
drawing bridge1591
sluice1642
pont tornerec1650
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > bridge > lifting-bridge > draw-bridge
bridgec1275
tu-brugge1297
draught-bridgec1330
draughtc1400
drawbridgec1400
flying bridge1489
pont-levis1489
trap-bridge1585
drawing bridge1591
sluice1642
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 9602 Heore brugge heo duden adun.
1419 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 14 (MED) That all dores that opyns apon the dyke be closed, and all the bryggys taken away.
a1500 (?a1400) Firumbras (1935) l. 46 (MED) The brygge they vp-drowe; the barres forthe they pyȝt.
1670 J. A. Comenius Janua Linguarum Trilinguis 210 They are wont to fence the gates with two leav's doors,..and to secure them with bridges..to be drawn up.
1700 P. Rycaut Hist. Turks beginning Year 1679 394 Many of the Turks betook themselves to the Castle, but with so much haste, that they had not time to draw the Bridge up after them.
1887 R. Abbay Castle of Knaresburgh xii. 112 ‘Ho, raise the bridge,’ he shouted, from the rampart where he stood.
2012 C. Gravett Castles Edward I in Wales 35 The rear end [of the turning bridge] was weighted... When released, the rear portion pivoted down... This was a much swifter method of lifting the bridge than winching.
4.
a. A fixed or floating landing stage, jetty, or pier, esp. on the Thames in and near London. historical in later use.Often in the names of such landing stages, esp. on the Thames in and near London: cf. stair n. 4a.For the origin of this sense see the etymology.
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society > travel > travel by water > berthing, mooring, or anchoring > harbour or port > [noun] > jetty or pier
pier1453
bridgec1560
jetty1830
gare1912
?1406 T. Hoccleve La Mâle Règle l. 190 in E. P. Hammond Eng. Verse between Chaucer & Surrey (1927) 63/1 (MED) To walke vn to the brigge & take a boot.
c1560 Map in W. Maitland Hist. London (1739) Lond. has two landing jetties marked privy bridge at ‘privy gardens’, and Queens-bridge at Whitehall.
1686 London Gaz. No. 2170/4 Lost or stolen..at Billingsgate Stairs, or Gravesend-Bridge, an old Black leather Trunk.
1850 P. Cunningham Handbk. London (new ed.) II. 896 When we read in our old writers of Ivy-bridge, Strand-bridge, Whitehall-bridge, and Lambeth-bridge, landing piers alone are meant.
1954 A. J. Philip Hist. Gravesend (new ed.) 183 At both Wapping and Gravesend passengers landed at private ‘bridges’ or stairs.
b. A gangway or movable landing stage for boats.Sometimes, esp. in later examples, perhaps simply a makeshift version of the structure denoted by sense 1.
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society > travel > travel by water > berthing, mooring, or anchoring > harbour or port > [noun] > landing-place > landing-stage > movable
bridge1426
linkspan1964
1426 in Rec. Parl. Scotl. to 1707 (2007) 1426/19 All batmen..sal haf for ilk bat a treyn brige quhar with thai may resaf in thar batis travalouris hors thru the realme.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xvii. 403 A brig thai had, for till lat fall, Richt fra the bat apon the vall.
1697 C. Mather Pietas in Patriam 8 His Frigate lay Careening..by the side of a Rock, from whence they had laid a Bridge to the Shoar.
1836 F. P. Leverett New & Copious Lexicon Lat. Lang. 677/1 A bridge from a ship to the shore, a plank for embarking or disembarking.
2008 B. Stanton Sayonara Heart 539 The bridge sagged with every step he took toward the shore.
5. Any of various natural formations resembling a bridge, such as a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land masses, a ridge of rock, sand, or shingle across the bottom of a channel, a band of ice across a body of water, an archway of rock, etc. Frequently with modifying word, as rock bridge, ice bridge, etc.
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the world > the earth > water > body of water > [noun] > shallow place
shoal839
shoala1400
bank?1473
undeep1513
shelf1545
flat1550
vadea1552
ford1563
shallow1571
shoaling1574
ebbs1577
shelve1582
bridge1624
ballow1677
shamble1769
sharp1776
poling ground1901
sea-shoal1903
1624 E. Bolton Nero Caesar xliiii. 269 The isthmus, or neck of land, which like a naturall bridg ioing'd the main of Greece to the most renowned penile thereof, Pelopennesus.
1792 G. Cartwright Jrnl. Resid. Coast Labrador I. 182 The river was frozen over in bridges, from that place to the Narrows.
1812 Examiner 14 Sept. 590/2 It is proposed to construct a Pier on the bridge between St. Nicholas and Mount Edgecombe.
1963 ‘G. Carr’ Lewker in Norway viii. 161 A firm right foothold, a smooth ‘mantelshelf’ movement, and he was up and standing on the rock bridge.
2013 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 30 Nov. b3 Every year the St. Lawrence froze solidly enough to form a bridge of ice linking Montreal to the mainland.
6. North American. A causeway of logs over a swamp, etc.; a corduroy road (cf. corduroy adj. 3). Now historical.
ΚΠ
1792 E. P. Simcoe Diary 26 June (2007) 104 It is certainly necessary to have a Horse of the Country to pass the Bridges we every where met with, whether across the creeks..or swamps.
1839 C. M. Kirkland New Home ii. 19 The ‘beautiful bridge’, a newly-laid causeway of large round logs.
2008 D. Gardner Wood, Concrete, Stone, & Steel 4 There were probably many corduroy bridges on the Red River Trails... This type of bridge was often used over soft, spongy areas where vehicles such as oxcarts or coaches were likely to get stuck.
7. Nautical.
†a. A gangway connecting two parts of a vessel. Obsolete.Perhaps simply an extended or contextual use of sense 1.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > part of vessel above water > [noun] > gangway
gangway1688
gangboard1700
running-board1816
bridge1843
plankway1849
1843 C. Bailey Narr. Life & Acct. Loss of Pegasus 44 He afterwards went on the bridge over the paddle-wheels.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 133 A narrow gangway between two hatchways, sometimes termed a bridge.
b. An elevated platform on a vessel from which it is navigated, and from which activities are directed by the captain or commanding officer. Hence, by metonymy: the officers and crew manning this at any given time.The bridge, which first appeared with steam propulsion, was originally simply a raised narrow deck or platform extending from side to side of a boat, from which the officer in command directed the vessel. The bridge is now usually enclosed by glass screens or windows to give protection from the weather. The equipment and instruments by which a ship is guided, such as the steering wheel, the compass, maps and charts, and (latterly) GPS displays, radar scanners, etc., are normally situated on the bridge. Very large ships, such as ocean liners, warships, etc., may have two or more bridges.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > part of vessel above water > [noun] > deck superstructure > bridge
bridge1858
deck-bridge1874
1858 Mercantile Marine Mag. Feb. 53 The Boatswain was on the bridge.
1908 Railroad Trainman Apr. 293/2 I used to go up on the bridge, and help the officers on their watch.
1914 ‘Bartimeus’ Naval Occasions xx. 181 The men on the bridge ducked their heads as..a shower of spray drifted over the weather-screens.
1965 Orange County (Santa Ana, Calif.) Reg. 17 Nov. a3/5 When a crewman sent to investigate opened the door, flames burst out and he slammed the door and notified the bridge.
2012 Times (Nexis) 16 Oct. 28 The captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia..blames other officers on the bridge for bungling his orders.
II. Specific and technical uses.
8. On a stringed instrument: a ridge or raised piece over which the strings are stretched taut and held away from the body of the instrument. Cf. nut n.1 20.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > lute- or viol-type parts > [noun] > bridge
bridgea1387
magade?a1475
ponticello1740
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 211 (MED) Þe streng is i-stranȝt endelonges uppon þe holownesse of a tree and departede evene a two by a brugge [L. magadam] i-sette þere under.
1694 W. Holder Treat. Harmony ii. 14 The String of a Musical Instrument, resembling a double Pendulum moving upon two Centers, the Nut and the Bridge.
1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music Mute, a little utensil..so formed that it can be fixed..on the bridge of a violin, the tone of which it deadens, or softens.
1832 L. Hunt Poems Pref. 23 It has a look like the bridge of a lute.
1875 J. Bishop in tr. J. A. Otto Treat. Violin (new ed.) App. iii. 79 The bridge..exercises an immense influence..on the quality of the tone of the violin.
1998 Strad June 575/1 The process of changing cello bridges for summer and winter is unnecessary for the majority of cellos, when they are properly adjusted with a good bridge and soundpost.
2005 T. Brookes Guitar 302 Drill holes through the bridge and the soundboard for the bridge pins, the toothlike items that pin the head of the string in place.
9. Building. A brace fitted between, or a joist spanning, two or more joists, beams, or other supports, esp. in a floor. Cf. bridging piece n. at bridging n.2 Compounds, bridging joist n. at bridging n.2 Compounds.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > framework of building > [noun] > joist > types of
bridge1420
trimming-joist?1677
binding-joist1679
bridging1733
bridging joist1733
bay1823
trimming-piece1833
trimmed joist1876
RSJ1940
tail-joist-
1420 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 15 (MED) William of Alne, of his costes, sall fynde the brygges, the scaches, nayles, and all the tymbre that sall ga un to the gutter.
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 43 The Carpenters lay Bridges overtwhart the Joyses.
1781 W. Pain Builder's Golden Rule 6 The section of a bridge-floor shewing the binding-joist.
1852 E. Shaw Civil Archit. (ed. 6) 114/1 The bridges ought not to be driven in with great force, but their ends should be in close contact with the vertical sides of the joists.
1988 Porches, Decks & Fences 60/1 To reinforce a joist with solid bridges, install a bridge every 6 to 8 feet between it and the joist on each side of it.
10.
a. The upper, bony part of a person's nose.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > nose > [noun] > bridge
bridgea1425
nose ridge1656
a1425 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 634/9 Interfinium, a bryg of the nese.
1630 T. Dekker Second Pt. Honest Whore v. ii. 229 Hauing the bridge of my nose broken.
1839–47 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. III. 736/2 The Caucasian nose is..elevated at the bridge.
1960 W. Miller Canticle for Leibowitz (1961) xii. 106 You can't see the syphilis outbreak on his neck, the way the bridge of his nose is being eaten away.
2012 Seventeen Mar. 56/1 [Swipe] a peach blush..on your cheeks, forehead, temples, the bridge of your nose and along your hairline.
†b. Apparently: a prosthetic nose. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > nose > [noun] > types of nose
snoutc1330
hawk-nose1534
bottlenose1553
saddle nose?c1599
snut-nose1603
tooter1638
bridgea1658
hook-nose1687
button1696
snub nose1724
pug nose1769
Roman1821
Grecian nose1830
snub1830
potato-nose1853
squash nose1882
number six nose1923
a1658 J. Cleveland Rupertismus in Wks. (1687) 52 Let the Zeal-twanging Nose that wants a Ridge, Snuffling devoutly, drop his silver Bridge.
c. The curved central part of a pair of spectacles that fits over the nose. Cf. bridge spectacles n. at Compounds 4.
ΚΠ
1827 Repertory Patent Inventions 3 388 The optician, in the disposition to follow his own notions as to appearance,..made the bridge of the frame too high.
1962 H. Calisher Tale for Mirror 124 Butterfly glasses with this year's line of twisted gold at the bridge.
2001 J. Franzen Corrections 421 She scratched her head and scrunched up her nose..and pushed on the bridge of her glasses.
11. Anatomy. The part of the brainstem between the mesencephalon and the medulla oblongata, which has an arched ventral surface with prominent transverse fibres; = pons n. 1. Frequently with distinguishing word or phrase, esp. in bridge of the cerebellum, bridge of Varolius (cf. pons cerebelli n., pons Varolii n.). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > nervous system > cerebrospinal axis > brain > parts of brain > [noun] > pons
bridge1615
pons1671
pons cerebri1671
pons Varolii1693
pons cerebelli1846
mesocephalon1857
trapezium cerebri1890
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια vii. xxii. 497 You must lengthwise cut into two partes the bridge of the Cerebellum.
1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) iii. iv. 136/1 (caption) The processes of the Brainlet, which make the bridg of Variolus.
1689 W. Salmon tr. Y. van Diemerbroeck Anat. Human Bodies i. 404/1 Therefore the Varolian Bridge is thought to close the extream Circles of the Cerebel.
1779 tr. A. von Haller First Lines Physiol. xi. 170 From this, some distinct fibres ascend outwards, and join themselves to the transverse ones of the bridge.
1879 H. Calderwood Relations Mind & Brain 36 In one solid mass, with transverse lines, is the bridge.
2003 U. Vielkind tr. W. Kahle & M. Frotscher Color Atlas Human Anat. (ed. 5) III. 6/1 Although the brain stem still shows a uniform structure at this early stage, the future divisions can already be identified: medulla oblongata (elongated cord).., pons (bridge of Varolius).., [etc.].
12. Cards.
a. A curve, arch, or bend formed by a card (or several cards) that has been bent slightly, esp. in order to mark it, or to make it stand out when the deck is cut; the action or trick of so bending a card. Also: the part of a shuffle in which interleaved cards are formed into an arch shape before being collapsed together into one stack.Cf. bridge v.1 7, bridging n.2 4, bridge shuffle n. at Compounds 4.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card-sharping or cheating > [noun] > methods of
palm1664
high game1665
palming1671
slick1674
brief1680
gammoning1700
shoulder-dash1711
bridge1773
weaving1803
bridging1843
palmistry1859
slipping1864
stocking1887
big mitt1903
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > euchre > [noun] > score
bridge1891
1773 Covent-Garden Mag. Nov. 402/2 As soon as he finds [a card that] suits his purpose, he will shuffle [it] to the top of the pack, and then by bending the cards, will make a bridge over this card.
1859 C. J. Lever Davenport Dunn 251 I've found out the way that Yankee fellow does the king. It's not the common bridge that every body knows.
1946 A. H. Buckley Card Control 28 By these two simple and unsuspicious acts the cards on the top of the pack are slightly convexed, and those on the bottom are slightly concaved. Cut the pack and observe the bridge.
2008 A. Stone in Harper's Mag. July 49/2 I give the deck a Heinstein Shuffle—a blind shuffle with a bridge.
2011 S. Lee Magic Aces 56 Squeeze the card at its sides... Only very slight pressure to produce a very slight bridge is required. Then allow the pack to drop back onto the card.
b. Euchre. The situation in which a team is one point away from winning. to order (up) at the bridge: to order the suit of the card turned up by the dealer to be adopted as trumps when one is in this position (see to order up at order v. 8d).
ΚΠ
1857 T. Frere Hoyle's Games (new ed.) 286 A Bridge.—Should your adversaries have four points to make, and you but one, they having the deal.
1891 ‘L. Hoffmann’ Cycl. Card & Table Games 95 (Euchre) If one side has scored four, and the other side only one, such position is known as the ‘bridge’... The elder hand is the only one who should order up at the bridge.
1999 N. Bumppo Columbus Bk. Euchre (ed. 2) 33 If the dealer's team has 6 or 7 points and you are in the lead and ‘at the bridge’, you must order up whatever is turned..unless you have a sure trick in the suit turned.
2008 F. Benjamin Euchre Strategies 31 When ‘ordering at the bridge’ was used the 1st seat won the game 52% of the time.
†13. Saddlery. A part of the harness resembling a buckle, but without the tongue, to which strapping is looped or sewn. Also: the bar (or bars) joining its sides. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > rings or loops
ringle1419
torret1429
button?1561
French buckle1691
bridge1795
dee1795
handpiece1840
pirn1846
thill-tug1859
Irish martingale1874
pipe-loop1875
kidney-link1883
1795 W. Felton Treat. Carriages II. 154 The Crupper..is looped through the housin bridge, and buckled about the middle.
1871 Specif. & Drawings of Patents (U.S. Patent Office) 22 Aug. No. 118,344 The cockeye or end of the trace is engaged with my improved carrier by inserting it between the bridge..and cross-bar.
1909 Harness July 118/2 Pivotally connected to the sides of the nose strap 2 is a metallic bridge 5, the bridge being substantially yoke-shaped.
14. Billiards, Snooker, and Pool.
a. A support for a billiard cue formed by a player's hand, in which the tip of the cue typically rests between the raised thumb and the index finger.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [noun] > rest > made by player's hand
bridge1807
1807 E. White Pract. Treat. Billiards 516 (note) Some in making the bridge have accustomed themselves to lay the hand quite flat upon the cloth; others hollow it to the utmost and expand it by separating the fingers widely from each other.
1911 Encycl. Sport & Games (new ed.) I. 267/1 Making the ‘bridge’ is a matter of no importance in detail, as long as this ‘bridge’ is firm and steady.
1991 C. Everton Snooker & Billiards v. 28/1 When a basic efficient grip has been developed, the next step is to be able to form a bridge with the other hand.
b. A stick with an attached frame at the end which is used to support a cue for a shot where hand bridging is awkward or not possible; (also) the attachment itself, which holds the cue. Cf. rest n.1 9c.Sometimes called a mechanical bridge, to distinguish this sense from the bridge formed by the hand.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [noun] > rest
jigger1847
rest1849
pyramid rest1873
spider-rest1873
spider1887
bridge1893
short-rest1910
1893 Rules for Billiards & Pool (Oliver L. Briggs Co.) 9 Billiard table outfit consists of..One dozen Cues...Two Bridges... Pool table outfit consists of..Twelve Cues. Two Bridges.
1978 G. Fels Pool Simplified, Somewhat ii. 9 The way you accomplish that is to use the mechanical bridge, also called the rake, crutch, [and] ladies' aid... Get comfortable with the bridge; it helps you reach every conceivable shot on the table.
2000 J. Lee & A. Gershenson Black Widow's Guide to Killer Pool 54 You can typically find the mechanical bridge hanging beneath one side of the pool table... If you can use the bridge effectively, it will open up your game considerably.
15. In a reverberatory furnace: a low wall which separates the substance being heated from the burning fuel. Cf. reverberatory adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > furnace or kiln > furnace > parts of furnace > [noun] > walls or barriers in furnaces
fireback1566
spirit-plate1686
hem1693
fire bridge1821
bridge1823
water bridge1837
furnace-bridge1874
1823 Ann. Philos. New Ser. 5 114 The body of the furnace or hearth..is separated from the fire place by a bridge of bricks about two feet in thickness. The flame passes over this bridge.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 22/1 C is..the bridge of the furnace, which retains the fuel in its place, and serves to direct the flame towards the roof.
1991 Ships Monthly Apr. 19/1 Cleaning out the combustion chambers..involved crawling into each furnace, dragging an inspection lamp on a lead..over the firebrick ‘bridge’ and so into the ‘back end’—the combustion chamber.
16. In theatrical scene painting: a movable platform in front of a section of scenery, on which the painter or set designer stands; = paint-bridge n. at paint n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > equipment for painting or drawing > [noun] > bridge
bridge1859
1859 G. A. Sala Gaslight & Daylight ii. 23 A ladder being placed against the bridge if he wishes to descend without shifting the position of his platform.
1964 J. L. Owens Working in Theatre viii. 171 A Scene-painting studio. Standing on a bridge well above the level of the floor, an artist worked on a view of the Ponte Vecchio.
2012 S. Crabtree & P. Beudert Scenic Art for Theatre (ed. 3) i. ii. 43/2 Paint bridges..are expensive permanent pieces of shop equipment, but they allow the painter access to the full width of the drop at once. Bridges themselves also can move up and down.
17. In engraving, miniature painting, jewellery making, etc.: a strip of wood or other material, often supported at each end, used to raise the hand above a surface and keep it steady when engaged in fine work.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > printmaking > engraving > intaglio printing > [noun] > metal plate > equipment
sandbag1658
cushion1735
scraper1747
bridge1860
transfer-press1877
1860 R. Hunt Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 5) II. 137 The bridge being laid over the plate, the process of etching may now be commenced.
1979 Reader's Digest Crafts & Hobbies 350 Get or make a bridge to support your hand while scribing designs into the metal or enamel.
2007 P. Hauser & B. Grafov Russ. Decorative Painting 27 To avoid smearing, support your hand on a ‘bridge’ when you are painting... A sturdy ruler or strip of wood will suffice.
18. An electric circuit consisting of a device connected between two parallel branches, with additional devices on each branch on both sides of the connection. Also called bridge circuit.Recorded earliest in Wheatstone's bridge, variant of Wheatstone bridge n. at Wheatstone n. a.electric bridge, Maxwell bridge, Wien bridge, etc.: see the first element.A bridge can be used to determine an unknown electrical property of one of the devices on the circuit, where the electrical properties of the other devices are known. A bridge can also be constructed such that the combination of electrical properties of the various elements may be used to produce a particular desired electrical condition across the connection; cf. bridge rectifier n. at Compounds 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > resistance > [noun] > instrument used in measuring > in form of bridge
bridge1865
Wheatstone bridge1865
wire bridge1880
post-office bridge1890
post office box1894
Kelvin double bridge1896
Maxwell bridge1907
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic phenomena > electronic circuit > [noun] > circuits measuring specific properties
bridge1865
bridge circuit1871
Wien bridge1894
1865 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 20 Oct. 731/2 When the length of a cable is great, or its insulation indifferent, the value of the latter may be ascertained by the same method as that used in measuring the copper resistance—that of Wheatstone's bridge.
1935 C. J. Smith Intermediate Physics (ed. 2) v. xlv. 758 Calculate the value of the resistance with which the coil D must be shunted in order that the bridge may be balanced.
2017 N. H. Sabah Circuit Anal. with PSpice viii. 223/2 The bridge can be used for measuring the inductance and resistance of a coil in terms of known resistance and capacitance values.
†19. Nautical. The central part of the fire grate in the boiler of a steam engine. Obsolete. rare.Recorded only in dictionaries.
ΚΠ
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 134 Bridge,..the middle part of the fire-bars in a marine boiler, on either side of which the fires are banked.
†20. A platform by which ore or fuel is conveyed to the mouth of a smelting furnace. Obsolete. rare. Recorded only in dictionaries.
ΚΠ
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 381/1 Bridge,..9. (Mining.) The platform or staging by which ore, limestone, fuel, etc., are conveyed to the mouth of a smelting-furnace.
21. Dentistry. A dental prothesis that consists of one or a few artificial teeth and is typically attached to remaining natural teeth; a partial denture. Frequently attributive (see also bridgework n. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > dentistry > [noun] > a restoration > bridge
bridge1883
bridgework1883
pontic1916
1883 Dental Cosmos June 291 In this [sc. breakage of porcelain teeth] lies one of the greatest objections to permanently fixed bridges.
1891 Brit. Jrnl. Dental Sci. 34 65 Dr. Melotte..made a small bridge of one tooth.
1919 Jrnl. National Dental Assoc. 6 786/2 The bridge retainer extends also between the second bicuspid and first molar.
1940 S. D. Tylman Theory & Pract. Crown & Bridge Prosthesis xxvii. 332 The partial veneer retainer is indicated primarily in bridge prosthesis when two or more missing teeth are restored.
1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It xxx. 281 Mrs. Nancy..gave me a smile with her new bridge.
2002 N.Y. Mag. 23 Sept. 58/2 (advt.) Experienced dentists offer porcelain restorations, surgery, implantology, fullmouth reconstruction, crowns, bridges, and smile transformations.
22.
a. In wrestling, gymnastics, yoga, etc.: a posture in which the back is pushed up to form an arch; often attributive, as bridge position, bridge pose, etc. Cf. bridge v.1 8a.
ΚΠ
1890 W. Armstrong Wrestling (new ed.) Addenda 52 Should a man make a ‘bridge’ in Lancashire wrestling, from head to heel, is it unfair to press him with the elbow or otherwise cause him pain?
1945 J. H. Pilates & W. J. Miller Return to Life through Contrology 54 (heading) The shoulder bridge.
1988 P. Aykroyd Puffin Bk. Gymnastics xii. 106 Some positions emphasizing flexibility and suppleness are left splits, right splits, side splits, shoulder stretch, lumbar fold, japana and bridge.
2014 Wall St. Jrnl. 4 Nov. d2/3 To build hip stability and core strength, he uses a yoga move, bridge pose, which involves lying on his back with knees bent, feet on the floor, and lifting the hips up off the ground.
b. Rock Climbing and Mountaineering. A position or move in which the body is stretched across a rock feature (such as a chimney, corner, etc.) with the hands and feet applying pressure on opposing surfaces of the rock face. Cf. bridge v.1 8b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > mountaineering or climbing > [noun] > techniques
ice work1856
abseil1923
rappel1931
bridging1941
prusik1972
bridge1986
rap jumping1992
crimp1994
1986 High May 13/2 My limbs..take me into an excruciating bridge, fingers locked in the thin crack.
2011 M. Samet Climbing Dict. 39 Notable is the full-body bridge, in which you lean planklike across a wide chimney, walking your hands up one wall while flattening your feet against the other.
23. Chemistry. A linking group, atom, or bond that connects two molecules, or two parts of a molecule or complex structure.salt bridge: see salt n.1 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > atomic chemistry > [noun] > atomic groups > types
residue1852
substituent1863
fluorophore1898
bridge1901
luminophore1910
triple1952
1901 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 79 731 Every bridged (or dicyclic) hydrocarbon contains..two tertiary carbon atoms which are either directly united to form the bridge, or else indirectly united when the bridge is itself made up of carbon atoms.
1933 S. W. Cole Pract. Physiol. Chem. (ed. 9) 141 I and II represent the closed ring with the oxygen bridge between carbon atoms 1 and 5.
1992 C. A. Smith & E. J. Wood Biosynthesis ix. 203 Chemically, porphyrins are complex ring products, with structures comprising four substituted pyrrole units linked together by methene bridges.
2011 Nature 5 May 35/3 The system is generated when a series of carbon-carbon bonds form as bridges across a macrocyclic intermediate consisting of only one ring.
24. Music. A transitional, often contrasting, passage linking two sections of a composition (cf. bridge passage n. at Compounds 4); spec. (in popular music) a section (usually of eight bars) which contrasts with both verse and chorus in a typical thirty-two bar song structure (cf. middle eight n. at middle adj. and n. Compounds 1a).See also to take it to the bridge at Phrases 10.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > section of piece of music > [noun] > connecting passage
change1598
transition1857
conduit1872
copula1880
bridge passage1895
bridge1926
1926 C. G. Hamilton Epochs Musical Progress iv. 100 In Key x the first subject, a is announced. The bridge then leads to Key y, in which occurs the second subject, b, often consisting of several divisions.
1961 A. Hodeir Jazz 74 Even in the tight quarters of an eight-bar bridge, he can begin statically, step things up, and finish by playing eight to the bar.
1986 Making Music Apr. 24/2 The best bridges are always an inversion of either the verse or the chorus.
2000 N. Catalano Clifford Brown 122 During the first bridge, Land's intonation truly captures the mood of the piece.
25. Astronomy. A band of stars and other matter stretching from one galaxy to or towards a neighbouring galaxy, formed as a result of tidal forces.
ΚΠ
1940 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 26 35 The bridge between the two objects [i.e. galaxies] may therefore be illusory. Many plates show the apparent connection distinctly.
1982 J. L. Sérsic Extragalactic Astron. iv. 122 The Mice is a system of two galaxies linked by a bridge.
2001 Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific 113 1306/2 The [galaxy] group's appearance is dominated by a giant arc-shaped tidal feature and other small tails and bridges, clear signatures of ongoing violent interactions.
26. Computing. A networking device which manages the transfer of data between two or more networks, allowing them to operate as a single network.
ΚΠ
1978 D. D. Clark et al. in Proc. IEEE 66 1514/1 These subnetworks are interconnected by bridges... A bridge links two subnetworks..and selectively repeats packets from each of them to the other, according to a ‘filter function’.
1985 Personal Computer World Feb. 108 (caption) A bridge links two nets in such a way that they effectively become one net.
2006 J. Doherty & N. Anderson Wireless Home Networking Simplified vi. 60 Install a wired NIC [= network interface card] in the computer, and then add a wireless Ethernet bridge..to provide the wireless connection.

Phrases

P1. bridge of boats (also ships, barrels, floats, etc.): (esp. in military contexts) a temporary floating bridge forming or carrying a road across a river, stream, or other body of water, which is supported by a number of boats, barrels, floats, etc., moored or tethered side by side; a pontoon bridge. [Compare classical Latin navalis pons, post-classical Latin pons navalis (9th cent.), pons navium (12th cent.).]
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > bridge > floating bridge
bridge of boatsa1387
pontoon1590
boat bridge1598
ship-bridge1663
flying bridge1675
float-bridge1692
floating bridge1706
raft bridge1733
pontoon bridge1757
raft1761
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 55 Þere Xerxes þe kyng made ouer a brigge of schippes [L. pontem fecit de navibus].
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxxii. He, there, made a bridge of boates, and brought his ordinaunce so nere the toune, that..it semed not long able to resist.
1747 W. Harris New Hist. William-Henry Prince of Orange & Nassau (Dublin ed.) III. 153 Ordering one Party to go over the Bridge, a Second to ford the River.., and a Third to be carried over by a Bridge of Floats and Pontoons.
1811 Duke of Wellington Let. 18 Jan. in Dispatches (1838) VII. 151 There will be no difficulty in laying a bridge of boats.
1911 H. G. Tyrrell Hist. of Bridge Engin. vi. 109 The bridge of boats over the Danube at Budapest which existed previous to 1837, was removed in the winter seasons because of danger from ice.
2008 J. White Abyssinian Proof i. 13 They flung a bridge of barrels across the Golden Horn and began to mine the city walls.
P2. a bridge of gold (also silver) (similarly a golden (also gold, silver) bridge): an easy and attractive means of escape, esp. one deliberately created to encourage an enemy to retreat. [After Italian far il ponte d'oro a qualcuno (1544 in the passage translated in quot. 1562), Middle French faire un pont d'argent à quelq'un (1534), faire des ponts d'or à quelq'un (1585), and similar expressions in both languages; compare also post-classical Latin hostibus fugientibus pontem argenteum extruendum esse , lit. ‘that for a fleeing enemy one should construct a bridge of silver’ (1532 in Erasmus, attributed to Alphonsus of Aragon, d. 1458). The expression is said to have its origin in Aristides' advice to Themistocles ( Plutarch Life of Themistocles 16) not to destroy Xerxes' bridge of ships, so that he might flee more easily from Greece following his defeat (compare quot. a1387 at Phrases 1).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > safety > escape > [noun] > means of escape > easy or attractive
a bridge of gold (also silver)1562
a golden (also gold, silver) bridge1652
1562 J. Shute tr. in Two Comm. Turcks ii. f. 39 He with his great cortesye..pacifyed..them all, lainge for his excuse the olde prouerbe, that to the enemy that fleeth a man must make a brydge of golde [It. fargli il ponte d'oro].
1579 G. Fenton tr. F. Guicciardini Hist. Guicciardin ii. 101 Not to stoppe the way of the ennemy..but rather according to an olde councell, to make him a bridge of siluer [Fr. luy faire vn pont d'argent].
1652 in King of Scots Let. Holland 5 And far better it is, to build him a silver bridge to invite him to go, then Bulworks of earth to necessitate him to stay.
1824 Ld. Byron Deformed Transformed ii. ii. 14 A golden bridge Is for a flying enemy.
1996 T. Clancy Executive Orders vii. 99 He'd given Jack a golden bridge back to private life, a capstone on a career of public service that had turned into a trap.
2001 R. Holmes et al. Oxf. Compan. Mil. Hist. 542 An encircled enemy may fight bitterly, and it may be better to encourage him to withdraw. In this case he can be left an escape route, known as a ‘golden bridge’.
P3. bridge of asses: see ass n.1 Phrases 2c.
P4. †beside the bridge: off the track, gone astray. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > [adverb] > in a wrong way, amiss
on missc1225
overthwarta1382
a-crookc1500
awrya1513
wide?1529
astray1535
across1559
bias1600
outa1641
beside the bridge1652
on the wrong side of the post1728
abroad1806
off1843
way off1882
off beam1941
up the boohai?1946
1652 N. Culpeper Eng. Physician 239 Wormwood is an Herb of Mars, and if Pontanus say otherwise he is beside the bridge.
P5. to cross a (also the, that) bridge when one comes to it and variants: to deal with a problem when and if it arises, but not beforehand.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > easiness > do or accomplish something easily [verb (intransitive)] > clear difficulties or troubles > if or when they arise
to cross a (also the, that) bridge when one comes to it1849
1849 Vermont Chron. 21 Mar. ‘Never cross a bridge until you come to it!’ was the counsel usually given by a patriarch in the ministry to troubled and over-careful Christians.
1850 H. W. Longfellow Jrnl. 29 Apr. in S. Longfellow Life H. W. Longfellow (1886) II. 165 Remember the proverb, ‘Do not cross the bridge till you come to it.’
1961 C. Isherwood Diary 30 Dec. in Sixties (2010) II. 150 He loves London, and I think we shall have trouble when we go back to California. Never mind, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
2014 Daily Mirror (Nexis) 14 Apr. 9 Asked if there were circumstances in which he would back military action, he replied: ‘Let's cross that bridge when we get there.’
P6. water under the bridge: see water n. Phrases 3a(b).
P7. to burn one's bridges (behind one): to cut oneself off from all possible means of retreat; to do something which makes it impossible to return to an earlier state. Cf. to burn one's boats at burn v.1 9c. [With allusion to a military tactic in which an army destroys the route by which it might be pursued (compare quot. 1745), but as a result also cuts off its means of retreat.]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > resolve or decide [verb (intransitive)] > take decisive step
to cross (also pass) the Rubicon1624
to burn one's bridges (behind one)1860
to burn one's boats1886
1745 Duke of Newcastle Let. 18 July in Corr. Dukes of Richmond & Newcastle (1984) 168 The Prince of Conti, has certainly passed the Rhine, with His whole Army, burnt His Bridges.]
1860 Charleston (S. Carolina) Tri-weekly Courier 20 Dec. I am ready to take the State out of the Union. I am ready to go now and forever, and to go at once, and to burn the bridges behind us.
1892 ‘M. Twain’ Amer. Claimant 94 It might be pardonable to burn his bridges behind him.
1914 E. R. Burroughs Tarzan of Apes xxviii. 399 Because she had been afraid she might succumb to the pleas of this giant, she had burned her bridges behind her.
2010 P. Murray Skippy Dies 327 ‘It wouldn't be fair, just giving her half the story’. ‘You've burned your bridges now, though. She won't take you back.’
P8. Originally U.S. I have a bridge to sell you (also someone could sell you a bridge) and variants: used to indicate that the speaker believes the person addressed to be very gullible, or that a particular statement or claim could only be believed by one who is easily duped.Also with the name of a particular bridge specified, esp. the Brooklyn Bridge. [With reference to the practices of con artists in the late 19th and early 20th cent., especially George C. Parker (1870–1936), who pretended to own the Brooklyn Bridge in order to trick people into buying it.]
ΚΠ
1917 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 6 Jan. 7/2 It's too bad a nut from the bug house bought the Brooklyn Bridge to-day or I'd try to sell it to you.
1975 X. Herbert Poor Fellow my Country 1029 ‘Someone'd sell you the Harbour Bridge within an hour.’ ‘D'you think I'm that bushy?’
1997 D. Gleicher Louis Brandeis slept Here 87 If you tell any young New Yorker that City College was once one of the finest colleges in the country, he'd think you were about to try to sell him a bridge in Brooklyn.
2018 Australian (Nexis) 15 Sept. 25 They gather..for a three-day [pharmaceutical] trial that promises a permanent solution to all their problems. (If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.)
P9. a bridge too far (a) a step beyond what is safe, sensible, or desirable; an act regarded as too drastic to take; (b) something that is likely to prove too difficult; a task that is beyond what one is expected or able to achieve.Popularized by the title of the 1977 film A Bridge too Far (based on the 1974 book of the same name), an account of the 1944 Allied defeat at Arnhem in a battle for a series of strategically important bridges, with allusion to a comment made by Lieutenant-General F. A. M. Browning (see quot. 1944).
ΚΠ
1944 F. A. M. Browning in R. E. Urquhart & W. Greatorex Arnhem (1958) 4 I think we might be going a bridge too far.]
1977 Economist 24 Sept. 16/2 Brave though he is to attempt it, monetary union in the absolute form Mr Jenkins is suggesting is all too likely to prove a bridge too far.
2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Feb. iv. 10/2 Young athletes who wished to compete as college freshmen had to score at least a 700 on the SAT... But even this meager score was often a bridge too far for poor students from dismal inner city schools.
2004 Nation 22 Nov. 6/1 What has the President..learned from Iraq? Did he learn it was a bridge too far?
P10. Originally U.S. to take it to the bridge: (in popular music) to begin playing the bridge section of a song (see sense 24), typically following a period of improvisation. In extended use: to perform or carry on with increased vigour, to expend extra effort on something (often used in the imperative, to encourage such effort).
ΚΠ
1970 J. Brown et al. Get up (I feel like being a) Sex Machine (transcribed from song, perf. J. Brown) in Sex Machine Can I take it to the bridge, fellas?
1988 R. Doyle Commitments (1991) 110 Whooo! said Deco.—Let's take it to the bridge.
1997 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 29 June 2 c The man was on fire, and in a typical display of his musical virtuosity, he took it to the bridge.
2012 Z. Smith NW (2013) 115 ‘But I believe in the people, you see, Felix.’.. ‘Yes, Barnesy. Take it to the bridge,’ said Felix, and thumped his old friend on the back.
P11.
bridge-and-tunnel adj. U.S. slang designating a person from the outer boroughs or suburbs of New York City (as opposed to Manhattan), typically characterized as unsophisticated or unfashionable; of or relating to such a person. [With reference to the routes travelled to reach the island of Manhattan.]
ΚΠ
1977 N.Y. Times 14 Dec. c16/2 On the weekends, we get all the bridge and tunnel people who try to get in.
1989 D. B. Feinberg Eighty-sixed (1990) ii. 20 ‘You should have seen what she was wearing. She looked like a walking garage-sale from Bensonhurst.’ ‘Strictly bridge-and-tunnel.’
2006 Opera News Aug. 68/2 Oddities such as three-tenor arena concerts are strictly for the bridge-and-tunnel crowd.

Compounds

C1. General attributive, with the sense ‘of, belonging, or relating to a bridge’ (sense 1); as bridge arch, bridge end, bridge foot, bridge pier, bridge repair, bridge warden, etc.See also bridgehead n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > bridge > parts of
pierlOE
bridge foota1450
heada1450
staddling1461
foota1500
bridge end1515
jowel1516
causey1523
starling?c1684
rib1735
spur1736
icebreaker1744
jetty1772
cutwater1776
roadway1798
sleeper1823
water-breaker1823
centrya1834
stem1835
suspension-tower1842
cantilever1850
semi-beam1850
pylon1851
half-chess1853
span1862
sway-bracing1864
needle-beam1867
ice apron1871
newel1882
flood-arch1891
needle girder1898
sway-brace1909
trough flooring1911
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > bridge > parts of > the rise of an arch
bridge arch1677
versed sine1838
spring1886
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1932) III. l. 16912 (MED) The Noyse myhte wel ben herd atte brygge Foot.
1515 Capystranus sig. C1v Twenty thousande of our men Were borne downe at the brydge ende.
1667 S. Pepys Diary 24 Feb. (1974) VIII. 82 How the mistress of the Beare tavern at the bridge-foot did lately fling herself into the Thames and drownded herself.
1677 R. Izacke Antiq. Exeter 120 About the end of November [in 1539] one of the middle Arches of Exbridge fell down, and was again speedily Erected by the Bridge-Warden.
1731 Justice's Case Law 58 Pleadings about a private Bridge Repair.
1746 W. Ellis Agric. Improv'd I. May xiii. 84 At Winchester I saw a Man angling with the Caddis Fly, just by one of the Bridge Arches.
1863 R. Fortune Visits Japan & China i. 7 A placard set up near the bridge gate.
1873 F. Robertson Engin. Notes i. 19 Bridge parapets may be of stone, with brick or stone coping, or of brick with ditto.
1930 Morning Post 9 Aug. 11 200 men have been employed excavating granite for the facing of the bridge piers and pylons.
1980 M. Robinson Housekeeping iii. 55 In the dream the bridge pilings do not tremble so perilously under the weight of the train.
2018 Richmond River (New S. Wales) Express Examiner (Nexis) 13 June 35 Work to install concrete bridge girders to form the deck of the bridge started in late March.
C2. Used attributively to designate money loaned or borrowed to cover a short-term financial deficit, esp. in an interval between two transactions; as bridge financing, bridge loan, etc.Chiefly in North American use. In Britain and elsewhere the term bridging is more usual (see bridging adj. 5).
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1969 Times 26 Feb. (Royal ed.) (Canada Suppl.) p. vi/3 A consortium of Canadian banks is providing up to $150m. short-term bridge financing.
1986 N. Y. Times (Nexis) 14 Aug. d8/6 The $500 million..is aimed at providing short-term liquidity for Mexico... Negotiators hope the bridge funds can be disbursed by the first week in September.
2014 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 5 Feb. f23/4 A swing or bridge loan allows you to buy a new house without having sold your existing home.
C3. Used attributively to designate a collection of relatively inexpensive clothing produced by a high-end fashion designer, intended to bridge the gap between expensive haute couture and the mass market, as bridge line, bridge wear, etc.; also designating the market at which such clothing is directed.Cf. diffusion n. Compounds 1b.
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1988 Financial Times 11 June 10 Steilman is not planning an assault on the bastions of French and Italian haute couture, but its aim to capture the ‘bridge’ market between the designers and middle-market tastes is well under way.
1988 N.Y. Times 18 Oct. b9/1 A former electrician in the garment district, who built his line from a single tube top into a bridge collection (clothes priced below designer levels) that is favored by professional women.
1997 N.Y. Times Mag. 6 Apr. 64/4 This is where women who work for their money come and spend it, on career clothing and so-called bridge wear—items just one step below the top-priced brands.
2018 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 15 Apr. bu1 She went..to..Ralph Lauren as the president of its bridge line, Chaps.
C4.
bridgeboard n. one of the long supporting timbers on either side of a wooden staircase, into which the ends of the steps are set; = stringboard n. at string n. Compounds 2.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > stairs > [noun] > stringers
stair-tree1374
sister1518
rail1679
string1711
carriage1758
rough string1819
notch-board1823
bridgeboard1842
stringer1883
1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 939 Bridge Board, a board on which the ends of the steps of wooden stairs are fastened.
1939 Old-time New Eng. Jan. 110/2 The bridge-board of the staircase is ornamented by a graceful scroll.
2011 N. S. Reed Place where Eelgrass Flows 60 I wanted to climb the dingy attic stairs where curlicues of dust hugged the edges of tread and bridgeboard.
† bridge-bote n. Obsolete a customary obligation to construct or maintain a bridge or bridges; a tax or contribution for the repair of bridges. [Compare ( < English) post-classical Latin brigbota (12th cent. in British sources). Compare also Old Norwegian bryggjubót (obligation for the) repair of a quay or wharf. With use with reference to the customary obligation compare also Old English brycggeweorc bridgework n.]
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > dues or tolls for upkeep or maintenance > [noun]
bridge-boteOE
bridge silverc1254
parkbotea1315
fosse-silver?a1325
pontagea1325
murage1424
pavagec1450
bridge money1482
fox-hen1528
jail money1600
water-corn1600
beaconage1607
castle-bote1628
burgh-bote1647
barbicanage1691
highway rate1697
fossage1757
mint duties1782
OE Laws of Æðelred II (Claud.) vi. xxxii. §3. 254 Burhbota & bricbota aginne man georne on æghwilcon ende.
?1241 in 9th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS: Pt. 1 (1883) App. 60/1 in Parl. Papers (C. 3773) XXXVII. 1 Borubothe, Refere le murs de cyte. Briggebote, Refere pounz a passer.
a1325 Statutes of Realm (2011) xxxix. 102 Bruggebote: þat is quit of helpe to ȝeuen oȝut for te make bruggen.
1663 F. Philipps Antiq. Præ-emption & Pourveyance for King iii. 194 Bridgebote, to be quit of making of Bridges in the Forrests, or their bounds.
bridge camera n. Photography an autofocus camera with a fixed zoom lens, and typically with manual controls for parameters such as shutter speed, aperture, metering, etc.
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1987 Mod. Photogr. Apr. 10/1 For the past week or so I've been shooting with one of the most significant and innovative ‘bridge cameras’ on the market.
2018 Australian (Nexis) 24 July (Austral. ed.) (AustralianIT section) 24 If you're coming to a bridge camera from a smartphone, a 125x optical zoom is a huge step up.
bridge church n. [after German Brückenkirche (1927 or earlier)] a Christian denomination intermediate in doctrine and practice between two other disparate traditions, esp. (in the ecumenical movement) one regarded as able to promote reconciliation between them.
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1927 Church Times 2 Sept. 266/1 Dr. Gore accepts for it [sc. the Anglican Church] its description by a Lutheran as a brücke Kirche [sic]—a bridge Church between Catholicism and Protestantism.
1996 J. Borelli & J. H. Erickson Quest for Unity iv. 161 If..the Orthodox Churches themselves are truly ‘sister churches’, already nearly at the point of full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, why were these ‘bridge churches’ needed?
2016 Church Times 29 Apr. 15/2 Talk about Anglicanism's vocation as the ‘bridge church’—not just passively standing between two ecclesiastical thought-worlds (the older language of via media), but actively connecting them—has a long history.
bridge circuit n. an electric circuit consisting of a device connected between two parallel branches, with additional devices on each branch on both sides of the connection; = sense 18.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic phenomena > electronic circuit > [noun] > circuits measuring specific properties
bridge1865
bridge circuit1871
Wien bridge1894
1871 Proc. Royal Soc. 1870–71 19 250 The above method occurred to me..during some experiments made to determine the resistance of the bridge-circuit.
1933 A. Hund High-frequency Measurem. iii. 97 The system shown in Fig. 57 is a bridge circuit balanced by a direct current I.
2015 J. L. Duchateau in P. Seidel Appl. Superconductivity II. iv. 563 It is possible to use this symmetry to balance the inductive voltage..with a system similar to the classical bridge circuit.
bridge deck n. the deck of a ship which is on the same level as the bridge (see sense 7b).
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1860 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 8 Oct. The flush and bridge decks are made to curve gently to the side channels, by which all surface water or waves occasionally shipped can be carried off through the scupper holes without brooming or mopping.
1957 ‘N. Shute’ On Beach iii. 76 On the bridge deck a hatch clanged open and the officer of the deck emerged.
2018 Sun Herald (Sydney) (Nexis) 2 Sept. 18 Only six new cabins have balconies, which open onto the bridge deck.
bridge equipage n. Military (now chiefly historical) materials and apparatus for constructing a temporary bridge to transport troops and military equipment across a river; esp. boats or pontoons for a floating bridge; a collection or set of this apparatus.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > bridge > materials for
bridge equipage1796
1796 tr. Napoleon in Evening Mail 23–26 Sept. We have..taken 5000 prisoners, 25 pieces of cannon, all complete, with their caissons, 2 bridge equipages consisting of 32 boats, all in order.
1833 A. Alison Hist. Europe during French Revol. II. xvii. 515 Jourdan, having..procured the necessary bridge equipage, prepared to cross the Rhine.
1995 A. C. Venzon U.S. in First World War 469/1 The bridge equipage was stored along one shore upstream from the crossing site.
† bridge gutter n. Building Obsolete a roof gutter which is supported along its length by a series of horizontal bearers, typically used to convey rainwater along the base of a roof where it abuts a parapet or another roof; = bridged gutter n. at bridged adj. Compounds.
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1762 Act vesting Certain Estates St. Botolph, Billingsgate 7 Carpenters work. To..make Bridge Gutters and whole Deal boarding with a good Current, and put proper Lear Boards, Hips and Valley Pieces.
1858 F. Fowke Descr. Building at S. Kensington 13 In the valley [of the M roof], the centre longitudinal hollow wall is carried up through the roof to a height of 2 ft. 6 in. above the bottom of the bridge gutter that is formed on each side of it, and that discharges at each end of the building.
bridge hole n. the space or opening under a canal bridge, where the canal narrows and the height is restricted by the arch of the bridge.
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1851 Preston Chron. & Lancs. Advertiser 15 Nov. 5/4 The boat in the charge of the defendant was kept in the bridge hole some time, during which period the bridge was turned off, and the passengers prevented from crossing.
1950 A. P. Herbert Independent Member 205 After the first explanation about rudders..they would hit the middle of the bridge-hole without a tremor.
2012 T. Jones Liveaboard Guide vi. 77 Speeding up in an attempt to beat the other boat through the bridge is a recipe for disaster... The result could be a collision or cause both boats to get stuck in the bridge hole.
† bridge-islet n. Obsolete a piece of land that is cut off at high tide and becomes a small island.
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the world > the earth > land > land mass > island > [noun] > tidal
bridge-islet1824
semi-islet1867
semi-island1870
1824 J. Evans Revision & Explan. Geogr. & Hydrogr. Terms 16 The peculiarity of the situation of this small Bridge-islet made it of some consequence during the late war with America, being considered a desirable place as a temporary dépôt for stores and provisions.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Bridge-islet, a portion of land which becomes insular at high-water.
bridge maker n. a builder or designer of bridges; (figurative) a person who connects or reconciles different things; cf. bridge-builder n.Earliest attested in a surname. [In use with reference to the pope (see quot. 1611) after post-classical Latin pontifex pope, bishop, understood to mean lit. ‘bridge-maker’ (see pontifex n. and the discussion at that entry).]
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society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > clerical superior > pope > [noun]
popeeOE
apostoilec1275
vicary1303
vicar1340
bridge maker1341
Antichristc1370
vicar generalc1386
Holy Fatherc1400
servant of the servants of Godc1405
His Holy Fatherhood?a1425
universal bishopc1475
holiness1502
harlot1535
papa1555
Apostolic seat1560
vicegerent1572
man of Rome1581
pontiff1583
bullman1588
apostolicship1599
Pontifex Maximus1610
infallibleship1613
sanctity1633
popeship1641
decretaliarch1656
blessedness1670
Holy seata1674
infallibilityship1679
pontifexa1680
holyshipc1680
unholiness1682
His Infallibility1834
Pape1927
1341 Patent Roll, 15 Edward III, Part 2 (P.R.O.: C 66/204) m. 4 Venit quidam Semannus le Bruggemakere qui sequitur pro rege [etc.].
1611 H. Broughton Require of Agreement 76 The Bridge-maker [i.e. pontiff] of Rome is blamed of Saint Paul.
1777 J. Lovell Let. 24 July in G. Washington Papers (2000) Revolutionary War Ser. X. 387 A few Bridge & Causeway-makers would answer all the ends of military Engineers.
1835 Penny Mag. 15 Aug. 314/1 In those dark ages most of the monastic orders were..the pioneers of civilization; they were the greatest road and bridge makers then in existence.
1982 P. C. Albert, in P. C. Albert & F. Malino Ess. Mod. Jewish Hist. ii. v. 140 (note) Isidor's self-image as a bridge-maker between tradition and modernity.
2018 i (Nexis) 18 Aug. 31 But singling out one bridge maker would be unfair. In Italy there have been 10 highway and bridge collapses in the past five years.
bridge money n. (a) a toll paid to cross a bridge (now chiefly historical); (b) money collected or allocated for the maintenance and repair of a bridge or bridges.Cf. pontage n., bridge silver n. [Compare Old Frisian bregjeld , Dutch bruggegelt (Dutch bruggelt ), Middle Low German brüggegelt , German Brückengeld , †Brückgeld (14th cent.). Compare earlier bridge silver n.]
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > dues or tolls for upkeep or maintenance > [noun]
bridge-boteOE
bridge silverc1254
parkbotea1315
fosse-silver?a1325
pontagea1325
murage1424
pavagec1450
bridge money1482
fox-hen1528
jail money1600
water-corn1600
beaconage1607
castle-bote1628
burgh-bote1647
barbicanage1691
highway rate1697
fossage1757
mint duties1782
1482 W. Cely Let. 13 Aug. in Cely Lett. (1975) 166 I hawe delyuerd Joysse v s. x d. Fl. ffor al maner costys here, as hallff passage and brege money.
1668 I. Basire Sacriledge arraigned by St Paul viii. 138 The Aggravations by servile Taxes, never heard of before, now of late laid upon the Clergy, such as Bridge-money, Roague-money, and the like.
1714 E. Freke Remembrances (2001) 161 Carting the reed with twenty carts att six shillings a day cost me six pound; and the bridge mony and drink ther cost me fiffteen shillings.
1826 Jrnls. House of Lords 58 366/1 It appears impossible to estimate the direct Taxes imposed on the Land in the Shape of Road, and Bridge Money.
2018 East Bay (Calif.) Times (Nexis) 15 Sept. Measure T would also provide..$20 million for bridge repairs... Mayor Sam Liccardo said the city can leverage the bridge money into another $80 million from available state and federal sources.
bridge note n. a note in tonic sol-fa music which marks the transition into a new key; cf. bridge-tone n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [noun] > diatonic scale series > sol-fa system > sol-fa notes > marking change of key
bridge note1872
bridge-tone1872
1872 J. Curwen Standard Course Lessons in Tonic Sol-fa Meth. (new ed.) 155/2 The short Appoggiatura can scarcely be said to take any time from the note before which it is placed... It is expressed in the Sol-fa Notation by a note like a bridge note of transition.
2011 A. Latham Oxf. Compan. Music (Electronic text) These chromatic note names are used only for incidental sharpening or flattening. When a tune modulates, the new key note is named doh, the transition being expressed by a ‘bridge note’ with a double name.
bridge passage n. a transitional or linking passage between two sections or parts of a musical, literary, or dramatic work.
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society > communication > writing > written text > [noun] > transitional passage in literary composition
bridge passage1895
society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > section of piece of music > [noun] > connecting passage
change1598
transition1857
conduit1872
copula1880
bridge passage1895
bridge1926
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > parts of a written composition > [noun] > passage > transitional
bridge passage1895
1895 E. Prout Applied Forms 118 In both pieces also, a bridge-passage connects the second episode with the final return of the principal subject.
1927 Melody Maker Sept. 926/2 Rhythmic construction of introductions, bridge passages, modulations, interludes [etc.].
1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 June 330/5 There are no bridge passages in this book.
2005 R. J. Yanal Hitchcock as Philosopher x. 115 Psycho is divided into two halves with the shower murder as a bridge passage between them.
bridge pin n. †(a) Firearms (probably) = breech-pin n. at breech n. Compounds 2a (obsolete rare); (b) (in a piano, harpsichord, etc.) one of the pins or pegs set into the bridge to space and align the strings; (on a guitar, ukulele, etc.) the pin which holds the end of each string in place at the bridge.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > breech > other parts of breech
base1626
bridge pin1686
breech-pin1727
finger-piece1767
tang1805
hut1848
breech-lever1862
breech-screw1862
plunger1866
shoe1866
breech-block1881
breech-plug1881
console1882
crossbar1884
obturator1891
tray1909
1686 R. Blome Gentlemans Recreation ii. iv. iv. 124/1 Let the Bridge-Pin be something above the Touch-hole, only with a Notch in the Bridge-Pin, to let down a little Powder; and if so, then the Gun will not Recoil.
1811 W. Bundy Brit. Patent 3436 (1856) 3 This method I claim as my invention, for securing the covering of strings with wire of any ductile metal..whose ends of covering are secured and terminate within the guide pin and bridge pin.
1928 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 137 178/2 Other things being equal, the piano-maker need have no concern as to the color of the felt of his hammers, the comparatively slight variations in different types of bridge-pins or in the size of the case.
2014 @tjcrose 7 Mar. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Got new ivory bridge pins and new strings today and my guitar has never sounded better.
bridge rail n. (a) a guard rail on a bridge, esp. on a pedestrian or vehicular bridge, or on the bridge of a ship; (b) Railways a type of rail which, in cross section, resembles a squared-off arch with lateral flanges at the bottom (now historical).
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track > types of rail
bridge rail1759
rack rail1829
light rail1836
saddle rail1837
T rail1837
rack1847
foot rail1856
tooth-rail1862
U-rail1868
strap-rail1874
check-rail1876
cog-rail1884
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > part of vessel above water > [noun] > rails or mouldings > around bridge
bridge rail1759
1759 Bedford Level: North Level Acct. Jan 7 to Apr. 16 (Bedford Level Corporation) 33 To Christopher Milson, carpenter, for work and materials at Salter's Load sluice; to wit, 1 day's work mending the bridge rails, 2s.
1835 W. Strickland & S. H. Kneass in Hazard's Reg. Pennsylvania 17 Oct. 246/1 The plan of the superstructure of the rail road, consists of foundation sills.., upon which shall be spiked cross sills.., the whole surmounted with the bridge rail 34 lbs. to the yard.
1915 ‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship i. 14 The Captain, clinging to the bridge rail to maintain his balance.
1994 L. Poague Another F. Capra vi. 186 George Bailey, leaning on a bridge rail over a voidlike body of water.., begs his guardian angel and finally the Lord himself for help.
2014 A. Dow Railway v. 103/1 Brunel secured bridge rails to the longitudinal timber by means of screws through the feet either side of the rail proper.
bridge rectifier n. (more fully bridge rectifier circuit) a rectifier in which four diodes are arranged in the form of a bridge (sense 18), used to produce a smooth, high-quality DC electrical supply from an AC power source.
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1924 Exper. Wireless Sept. 703/2 A bridge rectifier was built with 30 cells in each arm.
1962 Operator's Maintenance Man. Radio Set AN/GRC-109 (U.S. Dept. Army) vi. 40/2 The voltage is..rectified by selenium rectifiers CR1, CR2, CR3, and CR4, a full-wave, bridge-rectifier circuit.
2015 P. E. Sutherland Princ. Electr. Safety xii. 282 The DC tests utilize a three-phase bridge rectifier.
bridge shuffle n. Cards a form of riffle shuffle in which the shuffler divides a pack of playing cards into two parts, bends and releases the edges together so that they interleave, then forms the interleaved cards into an arch shape and allows it to collapse into one stack.Cf. sense 12a, and riffle shuffle at riffle n. 5a.
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1946 J. Goodrum Now You see It vi. 61 Shuffle the two halves of the pack, using the familiar ‘riffle’ or ‘bridge’ shuffle.
1995 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 14 Mar. 14 So you're in the sunroom in the Bide-a-Wee retirement home, practising a dodgy bridge shuffle with no marked cards showing.
2003 M. Meloy Liars & Saints xv. 111 Lenore watched Mr. Osbert perform his slow, thorough bridge shuffle, over and over.
† bridge silver n. Obsolete (historical in later use) money collected or allocated for the maintenance and repair of bridges; cf. bridge money n.
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society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > dues or tolls for upkeep or maintenance > [noun]
bridge-boteOE
bridge silverc1254
parkbotea1315
fosse-silver?a1325
pontagea1325
murage1424
pavagec1450
bridge money1482
fox-hen1528
jail money1600
water-corn1600
beaconage1607
castle-bote1628
burgh-bote1647
barbicanage1691
highway rate1697
fossage1757
mint duties1782
c1254 in A. Ballard & J. Tait Brit. Borough Charters (1923) 265 Omnes illos denarios qui..ad pontes nostros Leycestrie exigi et capi solebant, qui vocabantur Briggesiluir.
1867 J. Thompson Ess. Eng. Munic. Hist. iv. 41 He received the wood-money, or bridge-silver, as it was called, from being collected near the bridges.
1884 Athenæum 16 Aug. 209/2 Simon de Montfort's charter for the remission of gable-pence and bridge-silver to the burgesses of Leicester.
bridge spectacles n. originally and chiefly U.S. a pair of spectacles that are kept in place by a spring or clip on the bridge of the nose, instead of arms with earpieces; = pince-nez n.
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the world > health and disease > healing > ophthalmology or optometry > aids to defective vision > [noun] > spectacles > pince-nez
bridge spectacles1830
pince-nez1866
nippers1876
nose glasses1890
nose-nippers1895
nose pinch1896
1830 J. F. Watson Ann. Philadelphia 180 The only spectacles she ever saw were called ‘bridge spectacles’, without any side supporters, and held on the nose solely by nipping the bridge of the nose.
1906 J. Schouler Americans of 1776 viii. 92 Temple and bridge spectacles (the latter mounted on the nose without side supporters) were on sale for need, though clumsy for ornament.
2007 V. Ilardi Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes 331/2 One of the antiquarians reads with a pair of round bridge spectacles.
bridge stone n. now rare (Scottish in later use) a flagstone (sometimes one of a number of stones) that spans a gutter or other sunken or muddy area.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > street > [noun] > gutter in a street > stone or flag spanning a gutter or sunken area
bridge stone1834
1834 Rep. Finance Comm. 19 Feb. in Documents of Board of Assistants (N.Y.) No. 41 264 The changes made..in relation to the dimensions of the curb and gutter and bridge stones used, have more than doubled the cost of them.
1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 939 Bridge Stone, a stone laid from the pavement to the entrance door of a house, over a sunk area, and supported by an arch.
1966 G. Mackay Brown Cal. of Love 85 A stone jar of his whisky was found under the brig-stone at his front door.
1978 A. Fenton Northern Isles xv. 121 The exterior of the south-east byre gable is neatly splayed back, as at other farms in Orkney..to let loads and animals turn in more easily along the brig (bridge)-stanes or paved path that leads to the entrance.
bridge toll n. a charge paid to cross a bridge; the revenue collected from this.In quot. 1798 perhaps: a tax paid for the maintenance and repair of a bridge: cf. bridge money n. [Compare Middle Low German brüggetoln , Middle High German bruckenzol (German Brückenzoll ); compare earlier bridge silver n.]
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1646 J. Lilburne tr. Charter Henry II in Charters of London 20 That all of them be free and discharged of Bridge-toll, and Childewite, and of Ieresgreene, and of Scotale.
1798 Monthly Mag. 6 395 Mr. Rogers, renter of the bridge-tolls [at Worcester].
1918 Traffic World 27 Apr. 903/1 There shall be included in such aggregate freight revenue..terminal allowances, bridge tolls, lighterage, insurance and other arbitraries.
2007 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 22 June 15 [The] SNP believes in big government. Its early manifesto-pledge redemptions..[include] cancelling bridge tolls, reversing unpopular hospital closures, extending free nursery entitlement.
bridge-tone n. a note in tonic sol-fa music which marks the transition into a new key; = bridge note n.Chiefly in or with reference to the work of the Reverend John Curwen (1816–80), creator of the tonic sol-fa system of vocal music: see Tonic Sol-fa at tonic adj. 3b.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [noun] > diatonic scale series > sol-fa system > sol-fa notes > marking change of key
bridge note1872
bridge-tone1872
1872 J. Curwen Standard Course of Tonic Sol-fa Method of Teaching Music (new. ed.) iv. 80/3 Say aloud or write down, without looking at modulator or book, the bridge tones, to right and to left of each scale tone.
1912 R. Hughes Music Lovers' Cyclopedia (rev. ed.) 288/1 In modulation, bridge-tones are indicated by the new key-value of the tone large with its old key value small.
1980 B. Rainbow John Curwen in Bernarr Rainbow on Music (2010) ii. 126 The change was first announced in a footnote, dated 1859, in the Grammar. But, in practice, ever since 1843 Curwen had indicated simple modulation by means of a ‘bridge-tone’.
bridge train n. Military (now chiefly historical) a unit or company of engineers equipped for bridge-building, carrying all the materials and apparatus for constructing temporary bridges to transport troops across rivers.
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a1821 J. Rapp Mem. of Gen. Count Rapp (1823) xxxvi. 244 The fugitives had joined Tchitschagoff, and covered the right bridge of the Beresina. Napoleon was uneasy: we had neither a bridge-train nor subsistence.
1885 Cent. Mag. May 137/2 Wagons, ambulances, bridge trains, camp equipage, hospital stores, and all the vast impedimenta and material indispensable for an army in the field, were to be manufactured.
1985 A. M. Beck et al. Corps of Engineers vii. 139/2 The bridge train carried 100 feet of double-single Bailey plus material for a seventy-foot launching nose, and the bridge unit had enough extra parts for two eighty-foot Class 40 bridges.
bridge tree n. (a) the beam supporting the spindle of the upper stone in a grain mill, one end of which may be raised or lowered to adjust the distance between the millstones; †(b) a pivoting crossbar to which the traces (trace n.2 1) are fastened in a draught plough, carriage, etc.; = swingletree n. 2 (obsolete rare).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of grain > milling or grinding > [noun] > corn-mill > millstone > upper > support
bridge treea1300
rind1318
ink1572
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > parts of cart or carriage > [noun] > swingle-tree
swing-tree1396
swingletree1483
spring-tree1600
bridge tree1607
whippin1697
whippletree1733
cross-tree1765
splinter-bar1765
swindle-tree1801
shackle-bar1834
whiffletree1842
heel tree1846
single-tree1847
swingle-bar1849
pulling-tree1895
trace-block1900
a1300 in D. M. Owen Making of King's Lynn (1984) 424 Rogerus..ivit ad aquam iuxta minorem rotam molendini..et vertit ipsum ita quod cecidit super quandam trabem que vocatur briggetre.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice v. 53 The draught breadthes..extend from the breast of the horse to the bridge tree of the Coach.
1760 J. Ferguson Lect. Select Subj. iv. 83 The perpendicular position of the spindle must be restored by adjusting the bridge-tree.
1795 O. Evans Young Mill-wright & Miller's Guide iv. i. 142 It is absolutely necessary to have a bridge-tree that shall have a degree of elasticity, which gives the stone a tremulous motion up and down.
1954 R. Wailes Eng. Windmill i. 13 If you look up into the ceiling of the breast of the mill you can see two white squares, with a square hole in each, and an iron spindle passing down through each hole and supported on a wooden beam or bridge tree.
2006 C. O. Staples Mills of Southern Afr. ii. 45/1 The bridge tree is used to lift or lower the top or runner millstone to adjust for the fineness of the ground grains.
bridgeway n. (a) a way, path, or road formed by a bridge; the road or passage running over a bridge; (b) a waterway, such as a river, canal, etc., that passes under a bridge.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, passage, or means of access to a place > [noun] > passage formed by bridge
bridgeway1796
the world > the earth > water > body of water > channel of water > [noun] > navigable waterway > waterway beneath bridge
lock1685
watercourse1722
bridgeway1796
1796 J. Jordan Specif. Patent Bridges (1797) 5 [In the figures] A, shews the horizontal rib of the bridgeway, composed of well-seasoned timber.
1884 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xxi. 156 As we got under the lee of the bridge the wind failed us and we remained motionless in the bridge-way.
1996 Adv. & Automated Operation Locks & Bridges (Rep. Working Group PTC) 23/1 Consideration needs to be given to allow following vessels to continue in convoy through the bridgeway.
2005 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Oct. 77/1 Most bridgeways are made of steel and concrete, which cool faster than asphalt, a poor conductor.

Derivatives

bridge-like adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [adjective] > of or relating to bridge > like a bridge
bridge-like1820
1820 P. B. Shelley Cloud in Prometheus Unbound 199 From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape, Over a torrent sea.
1936 Mexia (Texas) Weekly Herald 7 Aug. 3/5 A bridge-like structure with six lanes and numerous ramps to connect it to the cities above which it is suspended.
2014 Wall St. Jrnl. 4 Nov. d2/3 A yoga move..which involves lying on his back with knees bent, feet on the floor, and lifting the hips up off the ground to form a bridge-like arch.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

bridgen.2

Brit. /brɪdʒ/, U.S. /brɪdʒ/
Forms: 1800s–1900s biritch, 1800s–1900s britch, 1800s– bridge.
Origin: Of unknown origin.
Etymology: Origin unknown.The form bridge probably shows a folk-etymological alteration after bridge n.1 With quots. 18861 and 18862 at sense 1 compare also the following statement by John Collinson:1906 J. Collinson in Sat. Rev. 2 June 691/2 Between 1880–4 I spent a considerable time in Constantinople and Asia Minor, where I played what was there called ‘Biritch or Russian whist’... ‘Biritch’ was attributed to the Russian colony at Constantinople; in my time the dominating social and political element.Largely due to this statement, and to the similarity of the rules as described in Collinson's 1886 publication to those of the varieties of whist popular in 19th-cent. Russia (see, for example, vint n.2, and compare also quot. 1901 at sense 1), it has been proposed that biritch is < Russian birič crier, herald. However, there appears to be no evidence in Russian sources for birič (historical and regional by the 19th cent.) or any other Russian word similar in sound or sense being used in card games. Several late 19th- and early 20th-cent. English sources claim that a similar game was played in Constantinople, the Levant, or Greece as early as the second quarter of the 19th cent., but those statements are not corroborated by any contemporary evidence; similarly, there is no evidence to support a derivation of the English word < Ottoman Turkish bir one + üç three (perhaps with reference to the use of the dummy hand, or some other feature of the game: see A. J. Bliss in Notes & Queries (1969) 430–1). Compare French bridge (1888 or earlier), †britch (1890 or earlier). Early French sources, similarly to English ones and apparently independently from them, posit a connection of the game with Constantinople, Greece, and Russia.
1. A card game related to whist, played by two partnerships of two players who at the beginning of each hand bid for the right to name the trump suit, the highest bid also representing a contract to make a specified number of tricks with a specified suit as trumps.In bridge, the members of each pair sit opposite one another; and in each hand one player (the declarer) plays both his or her own hand and the exposed cards of their partner (the dummy). In the original form of the game (formerly also called bridge whist) the dealer or his or her partner (the dummy) named trumps, dummy's hand was exposed after the lead, and the odd tricks varied in value according to the suit named as trumps. In the modern form of bridge (also known as contract bridge) the principal features are a complex bidding system and a scoring system for the card play in which only tricks that were bid as well as won count towards the game. The main form of competitive bridge for tournaments is duplicate bridge, in which the same prearranged hands are played independently by several pairs or teams.See the etymology for further history of both the name and the game. The sense in quot. 1843 is uncertain. In Collinson's Biritch (1886), the early form biritch is applied to the call of ‘no trumps’ as well as the game.See also auction bridge at auction n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun]
bridge1886
bridge whist1893
1843 J. Paget Let. 18 Apr. in Mem. & Lett. (1901) i. vi. 144 We improved our minds in the intellectual games of Bagatelle and Bridge.]
1886 J. Collinson (title) Biritch, or Russian Whist.
1886 J. Collinson Biritch 2 The one declaring may, instead of declaring trumps, say ‘Biritch’, which means that the hands shall be played without trumps.
1886 Graphic 18 Dec. 657 [In Constantinople] whist is little played, but poker..and a modification of whist called ‘bridge’, or ‘britch’ (a term said to be of Romanian origin) flourish.
1898 ‘Boaz’ (title) The Pocket Guide to Bridge.
1901 ‘Slam’ Mod. Bridge p. vii Bridge, known in Turkey as ‘Britch’, may best be described as a variation of Dummy Whist although more resembling the Russian ‘Vint’ perhaps, than any other game.
1902 E. Glyn Refl. Ambrosine 159 The men played Bridge. Augustus made one of the fourths.
1940 M. Dickens Mariana viii. 315 Mrs. Shannon went alone in the train, with a packet of sandwiches for her lunch, for consistent losses at bridge had brought on one of her spasmodic economy campaigns.
2018 Liverpool Echo (Nexis) 11 Sept. 26 Learn to play bridge with an experienced bridge teacher, Tuesday evenings.
2. Short for bridge party n. at Compounds 2. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > party
bridge party1899
bridge1907
1907 R. Brooke Let. 7 Apr. (1968) 81 The ugly friend of the Simpson's, who won a prize at our bridge last winter.
1928 Observer 1 Apr. 11/2 The suburban wife who ‘plays the exchanges’ is present at every Bridge', as bridge parties are called in this country of short-cuts.
1966 H. Kemelman Saturday Rabbi went Hungry (1967) xx. 121 My wife gave a bridge and invited his wife.

Compounds

C1. General attributive, with the sense ‘of, relating to, or used for bridge’; as bridge club, bridge hand, bridge partner, bridge room, etc.
ΚΠ
1900 Baily's Mag. Mar. 199/2 Ultra-fashionable hostesses provided bridge-rooms at their dances.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 4 Aug. 15/1 Bridge hand No. VII. is another of those hands that look very simple but really are rather tricky.
1921 Punch 19 Jan. 49/1 The psychology of the Bridge partner .
1984 A. Thomas Intertidal Life i. 82 The word had got out..to the ladies at the bridge club.
2003 A. Notaro Back after Break xliv. 394 The oldies had already organized a bridge evening for the following night in Primrose Cottage.
C2.
bridge drive n. an event at which bridge is played for prizes, often as a means of raising funds for charities.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > contest or tournament
bridge four1904
bridge drive1908
Swiss1953
1908 Appleton's Mag. May 530/2 ‘She's to be at the White Lodge Bridge Drive.’ ‘I thought you thought a Bridge Drive an insult to the game?’
2017 Sutton Coldfield Observer (Nexis) 23 Feb. 6 During the next 12 months, they held bridge drives, a gala day, raffles, a fancy dress golf day.
bridge four n. a group or set of four people playing bridge, or who habitually play bridge together; (also) a game of bridge.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > contest or tournament
bridge four1904
bridge drive1908
Swiss1953
1904 Sketch 20 Apr. 20 (title) A topical discussion. By ‘the Bridge Four’.
1953 D. Parry Going up—Going Down vi. 315 Afterwards there was a bridge four and Clive played billiards.
2010 Guardian (Nexis) 28 Aug. 32 One might ask him to make up a bridge four if someone had flu, but there'd be no problem reminding him of his place.
bridge game n. a game of bridge; (also) a person's level of skill in playing bridge.
ΚΠ
1903 Times of India 12 May 4/4 (heading) A bridge game.
1928 Princeton Alumni Weekly 3 Feb. 459 (advt.) If your bridge game is poor-to-middling, Vanity Fair's expert articles will be your life insurance.
2004 Advocate 23 Nov. 40/1 Margaret and I met at a bridge game and had been together since 1989.
bridge lamp n. U.S. a floor lamp with an extended arm whose angle may be adjusted and a shade that points downwards, originally designed to shed light on a card table.
ΚΠ
1919 Pottery, Glass & Brass Salesman 13 Mar. 15/2 Quite new in the showing is an array of so-called ‘bridge’ lamps. These, as the name would imply, are floor lamps, designed for use at the card table.
1928 Garden & Home Builder Aug. 562/2 Ideal for any man's room is this new ash cup which snaps on to any bridge lamp.
2011 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 15 Jan. h2 A shopper..chose a plain white shade for a metal bridge lamp painted a deep fuchsia.
bridge marker n. (a) a page or card on which the scores in a game of bridge are recorded; a book or pad of these, esp. one preprinted with columns for the players' names, points, etc.; (b) any of various devices for keeping the score or for marking trumps in a game of bridge (cf. bridge scorer n.).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > marker or scorer
bridge marker1900
bridge scorer1902
1900 Yorks. Herald 16 Feb. 6/1 Pink leather ‘bridge’ marker.
1900 Country Gentleman 27 Oct. 1361 Messrs. Haddan and Powell have just patented a Bridge marker which..can be easily understood and shows the state of the game at a glance.
1901 E. A. Tennant ABC of Bridge 11 The players should provide themselves with proper Bridge markers that have the value of the suits, honors, etc., printed on the back.
2011 Daily Post (N. Wales) (Nexis) 8 Oct. 10 Propelling pencils followed the fashion for figurative curiosities and were shaped like frogs, pigs,..golf clubs and even ones with bridge markers for devotees of the card game.
bridge mix n. any of various small mixed snacks or nibbles of a type originally served at bridge parties; now spec. a confectionery mixture consisting of a variety of chocolate-coated fruit, nuts, etc.
ΚΠ
1927 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 22 Dec. (Home ed.) 11/4 (advt.) Foster & Orear's famous Bridge Mix, including Jordan almonds, spice drops, etc., $1 a pound.
1962 Billboard 13 Nov. 48/3 Here, there is one 1-cent machine for peanuts, one 5-cent vender for cashews, and bridge mix in a third machine at a penny.
2013 Ploughshares 39 121 I am supposed to offer him a drink, a cookie, some bridge mix, like a good little doddering maiden aunt.
bridge player n. a person who plays bridge, esp. habitually or professionally.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > player or players
four1895
bridge player1899
bridger1901
palooka1934
1899 A. G. H. Beaman Pons Asinorum 50 No amount of rule and precept will suffice to make a first-class Bridge player.
1967 E. Lemarchand Death of Old Girl xvii. 194 His brilliance as a bridge player.
2014 Daily News (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 27 May 7 West found himself in a bridge player's dreamland—on lead against a grand slam holding two aces!
bridge party n. a social gathering for the purpose of playing bridge.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > party
bridge party1899
bridge1907
1899 North Amer. (Philadelphia) 25 Feb. 5/4 They blandly encourage poker and bridge parties.
2018 I. Buruma Tokyo Romance i. 3 The..slightly dull surroundings of my upper-middle-class childhood, a world of garden sprinklers, club ties, bridge parties, and the sound of tennis balls in summer.
bridge playing adj. and n. (a) adj. that plays bridge; (b) n. the action, process, or pastime of playing bridge.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [adjective]
bridge playing1899
1899 Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe 9 Mar. 3/8 Society women with more money than brains..are paying as high as $75 to $100 for a course of six lessons from professors in the art of bridge playing.
1901 Times of India 31 July I can conscientiously recommend the new Cavendish of Bridge to the Bridge-playing world almost, if not quite, without a single reservation.
1967 J. Symons Man who killed Himself i. i. 10 Half a dozen bridge-playing couples.
2007 R. Hughes Canada's Bridge Warriors xiii. 209 In the following years, he had to juggle a busy schedule of film commitments and bridge playing.
bridge roll n. a soft bread roll having a long thin oval shape. [Probably so called because, being small and easily held in one hand, they were originally intended to be eaten at bridge parties.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > loaf > [noun] > roll
roll1581
bapc1600
wreath1600
breadcake1635
French roll1652
cookie1701
sugar-roll1727
petit pain1766
souter's clod1773
twist1830
simit1836
bread roll1838
pistolet1853
flute1855
twist-loaf1856
Parker House roll1873
crescent roll1886
bagel1898
Kaiser roll1898
buttery1899
croissant1899
split1905
pan de sal1910
bridge roll1926
Kaiser1927
Kaiser bun1933
Bialystok roll1951
pletzel1952
panini1955
bialy1958
Bialystok1960
1926 D. D. C. Taylor Good Housek. Menu & Recipe Bk. 106 Social Tea..Bridge Rolls and Cress, White and Brown Bread and Butter.
1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 371/2 Bridge rolls are split, buttered and filled with a variety of sweet and savoury fillings.
2018 Courier Mail (Austral.) (Nexis) 23 Sept. 16 Little egg mayonnaise and cress bridge rolls, or pinwheels filled with asparagus spears or smoked salmon and cream cheese.
bridge scorer n. (a) a page, book, or pad on which bridge scores are kept (cf. bridge marker n. (a)); (b) a device for keeping the score in a game of bridge (cf. bridge marker n. (b)).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > marker or scorer
bridge marker1900
bridge scorer1902
1902 Illustr. London News 20 Dec. 966/1 (advt.) Solid Silver Bridge Scorer, with Silver Pencil.
1951 R. Senhouse tr. Colette Chéri 111 Let's..buy playing-cards, good wine, bridge-scorers.
2016 Victor Harbor (Austral.) Times 22 Dec. 14 At a recent committee meeting, it was resolved to replace the electronic bridge scorers with new Bridgemates.
bridge table n. a table for playing bridge on, esp. a light movable or folding table with a baize surface; (also) the group of people seated at this.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > table
bridge table1899
1899 Times of India 20 Feb. 5/4 As to the sociability and gaiety of Bridge, it is true enough that a Bridge table is almost feminine it its loquacity and childish mirth.
1931 P. G. Wodehouse Let. 12 Apr. in Yours, Plum (1990) iv. 114 We had bridge tables spotted about the garden and patio and a large table with cold food in the dining room, so that people simply helped themselves.
1970 Derrick (Oil City, Pa.) 23 Mar. 6 The husband of my friend started playing ‘footsies’ with me under the bridge table.
2010 B. L. Bradberry Puttin' on Airs (2014) iii. 96 There would be six or eight bridge tables set up on the hangar floor with everyone playing bridge.
bridge whist n. a card game that combines features of both bridge and whist.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun]
bridge1886
bridge whist1893
1893 N.Y. Times 10 Dec. 3/6 The introduction of bridge whist in the New-York Whist Club has led to the withdrawal of a number of members and the formation of a new whist club.
2006 D. G. Schwartz Roll Bones viii. 169 But whist is really not that far gone. In the 1890s it would evolve again, becoming bridge whist; subsequent innovations created auction whist and then contract bridge.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

bridgev.1

Brit. /brɪdʒ/, U.S. /brɪdʒ/
Forms: see bridge n.1; also Old English brycgian, Old English bricgian.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with or formed similarly to Middle Dutch -bruggen (in overbruggen overbridge v., early modern Dutch bruggen to build or form a bridge (17th cent.; rare)), Middle Low German brüggen to build a bridge, to cover (a path) with paving or planks, Old High German bruggōn , bruccōn to build a bridge (Middle High German, German brücken ) < the Germanic base of bridge n.1 In some later uses after bridge n.1 With to bridge over (see sense 1) compare similar phrasal constructions in other Germanic languages, as well as overbridge v. (already attested in Old English as oferbrycgian ). With branch II. compare earlier bridging n.2
I. Senses relating to bridge n.1 I.
1.
a. transitive. To make or build a bridge over (a body of water, ravine, etc.); to span with a bridge. Also with across, over.intransitive in quot. OE2.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [verb (transitive)] > span with a bridge
overbridgeeOE
bridgeOE
land1637
span1861
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > build or construct [verb (transitive)] > build bridge > span with bridge
bridgeOE
OE Andreas (1932) 1261 Land wæron freorig cealdum cylegicelum, clang wæteres þrym ofer eastreamas, is brycgade blæce brimrade.
OE Maxims I 72 Forst sceal freosan.., eorþe growan, is brycgian, wæter helm wegan.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 10616 Þa al wes Auene stram mid stele ibrugged.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xii. 404 Thai had befor [the] day Briggit [1489 Adv. Briggyt] the pollis.
1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 83 This is the course of Walbrooke, which was of olde time bridged ouer in diuers places.
1683 J. S. Hist. State Present War in Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Moravia, & Silesia 84 The Visier with His Army, having passed divers small Rivers, by Plashing of Trees, or bridging them over with Boats, by swift marches advanced as far as Stat Weissemberg.
1720 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad V. xxi. 274 The large Trunk..Bridg'd the rough Flood across.
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xlii. 388 An arch of ice..bridging a fissure.
1879 J. A. Froude Cæsar xxviii. 485 They bridged the Rhine in a week.
1917 A. Conan Doyle Brit. Campaign France & Flanders 1915 v. 122 During the night the sappers had bridged the ditches between the front trenches and the supports.
1979 P. Matthiessen Snow Leopard i. 24 A canal bridged here and there by ten-foot granite slabs runs through a hamlet.
2003 Washington Times (Nexis) 11 Jan. b3 The engineers began to bridge the river in three places.
b. transitive. To connect (two places, pieces of land, etc.) by spanning the gap between them with a bridge; to form a bridge between. Also with to, together. Somewhat rare.
ΚΠ
1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie iii. sig. Xxx For the use of this City only (being seated like Venice upon many little Ilands not bridged together) there are no fewer than 200000 skiffes.
1792 Gen. Mag. & Impartial Rev. July 287 Its stupendous arch..seemed to bridge the mountains of Voirons.
1866 Catholic World Mar. 806/2 The Atlantic and Pacific oceans were bridged together by the iron rails of Panama.
1905 D. B. W. Sladen Playing Game i. ix. 85 Islands..each bridged to each.
2012 J. W. Arnn Land of Tejas vi. 147 It was here [between Siberia and Alaska at the Bering Strait] during the last ice age, that the sea retreated, exposing a strip of land that bridged the two continents.
†2. transitive. To cover (a path or way) with, or as if with, paving; to make a paved or covered path for (a person). Also intransitive: to make a path between places. Obsolete.In quot. OE with dative of the person for whom a path is made.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > cover [verb (transitive)] > spread or draw over (a thing) as covering for > bespread or cover with
wryc950
bredeOE
bridgeOE
bespreadc1275
couchc1330
spreadc1330
cover1382
overspreadc1385
overlaya1400
overcast1440
to draw overc1450
ramplish1494
to lay over1535
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xiv. 290 Hi..wurpon heora reaf under þæs assan fet & bricgodon þam hælende.
lOE Laws: Gerefa (Corpus Cambr.) xiii. 455 A he mæig findan, hwæt he mæig on byrig betan..: weod wyrtwalian, betweox husan bricgian.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 91 Þe children briggeden þe wei biforen ure drihten, sume mid here cloðes.
3. transitive. To form or provide (a way or passage) by means of a bridge. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > build or construct [verb (transitive)] > build bridge > form way by means of bridge
bridge1667
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 310 Xerxes..over Hellespont Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joyn'd. View more context for this quotation
1809 E. A. Kendall Trav. Northern Parts U.S. I. xxiv. 235 But here, a sufficient, though not very agreeable road, is formed by causeys of logs; or, in the language of the country, it is bridged.
1851 G. A. Worth Recoll. Cincinnati 10 in Q. Publ. Hist. & Philol. Soc. Ohio (1916) 11 We came to a full halt, and were..compelled to turn out and amuse ourselves by removing rocks and rubbish, filling up holes, and literally bridging our way over deep, and otherwise impassable gulfs and chasms.
1967 Westways Apr. 7/1 Rogers Pass..opened in 11 July, 1962, bridging a route previously inaccessible to motorists.
†4. transitive. slang. To deceive or betray (a person with whom one is supposedly cooperating). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > undutifulness > betrayal > betray [verb (transitive)]
sellc950
forredea1000
belewec1000
trechec1230
betrayc1275
trayc1275
wrayc1275
traise1320
trechetc1330
betradec1375
betraisec1386
bewray1535
betrantc1540
boil1602
reveal1640
peacha1689
bridge1819
to go back on (also upon)1859
to sell (a person) down the river1921
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 159 To bridge a person, or to throw him over the bridge, is..to deceive him by betraying the confidence he has reposed in you. [Also in later dictionaries.]
5. figurative and in figurative contexts.
a. transitive. To reduce or close (a notional gap); to make (a difference, difficulty, etc.) smaller or less significant; to reconcile or unite (disparate things or groups).Frequently in to bridge the gap; see gap n.1 6b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > relate to [verb (transitive)] > relate or connect one thing to another
tiec1000
link?a1412
mate1594
tack1683
relate1697
bridge1834
connect1881
to tie up1888
1834 N.-Y. Spectator 28 Apr. Crichton..has bridged over a wide chasm in English Histories, in a manner that will make his labors a high road for inquirers in Mohammedan history.
1842 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Sept. 226/1 Archytas..bridged together two continents of science.
1862 B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. i. 24 To bridge over the space which separates the known from the unknown.
1927 M. W. Graham New Govts. Eastern Europe 553 Moscow could make terms with Lithuania on a basis which would bridge the differences between a mildly bourgeois world and a world of pseudo-communism.
1997 Independent 30 June 6/1 The first ‘super surgeries’, intended to bridge the divide between hospital and family doctor care, will be given the go-ahead in a government announcement..expected this week.
2014 D. Lee Heist Film iv. 106 Admired by critics and audiences of studio and independent cinema alike, Soderbergh has been able to bridge the two worlds in ways few directors have.
b. transitive. To span (an interval); to extend between or connect (two periods of time, or events in time).
ΚΠ
1902 J. M. Guinn Hist. & Biogr. Rec. Southern Calif. 787/1 Unusual experiences fell to the lot of those whose lives bridged the span between the opening of the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries.
1908 Appleton's Mag. Jan. 105/1 Since 1898, in the period bridging the Chinese and the Russian wars, our mercantile marine has taken a long step.
1980 N.Y. Times 27 Oct. d13/3 His [sc. M. Caetano] subsequent political career bridged the period..of authoritarian rule in Portugal..and the military takeover.
2001 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 23 Mar. r12 The great French writer [sc. Proust], whose life bridged the transition from the 19th to the 20th centuries.
c. transitive. To eliminate (a financial deficit or shortfall); spec. to provide or use bridging finance (see bridging adj. 5).
ΚΠ
1922 Times of India 29 Aug. 10/4 The main object..was to find a method of bridging the deficit in the current year's Budget.
1953 Chronol. Internat. Events & Documents (Royal Institute Internat. Affairs) 9 459 The Minister also announced a new loan of Rs.80 m. to bridge the deficit in the capital development programme which was left unimpaired.
2016 Australian (Nexis) 31 May 23 Australian banks are heavy users of global financing markets to help bridge the shortfall in their deposit base to fund their lending book.
II. In extended and technical uses.
6. transitive. To join (two things separated by a gap) as if with a bridge, by laying or placing something over or between them; to span (a gap between two things) in this way. Also: (Building) to provide with bridging joists.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > extend [verb (transitive)] > extend over or across > from either side
flekec1330
span1633
bestride1728
bridge1787
arch1796
straddle1890
1787 W. Pain Builder's Golden Rule (ed. 3) 7 The rafters are bridged over the back of the principles.
1793 P. Nicholson Carpenter's New Guide 54 In bridging floors, do not place your binding or strong joist above three, four, or five feet apart.
1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 939 The upper joists..bridge-over the beams or binding-joists, and..are called bridging-joists.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xiii. 125 A speculator bridged a couple of barrels with a board.
1945 M. Dickens Thursday Afternoons (1965) viii. 267 Her body..in one chair and the lisle-clad bolsters which were her legs bridging the gap to another.
1990 Pract. Homebuilder 29/3 With a cavity wall, fit a duct to bridge the cavity.
2014 T. Walsh Moon Sisters i. 20 There it [sc. my mother's desk] sat—two tall crates bridged with a plywood worktop—butted up against the end of my sister's bed.
7. transitive. Cards. To bend (a card or group of cards) so that it forms a slight curve or arch, in order to mark it or to make it stand out when the deck is cut. Now esp.: to arch and collapse (cards) during a bridge shuffle; to shuffle (cards) in this way; cf. bridge shuffle n. at bridge n.1 Compounds 4.
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1791 ‘A. Pasquin’ Treat. Cribbage v. 93 Bridging the Cards: Is done when you wish for any particular card to start.
1889 G. Moore Mike Fletcher viii. 196 Outrageously,..he packed and bridged the cards. He turned the king.
1976 Midatlantic Rev. Winter 20 She bridged the cards expertly.
2011 S. Lee Magic Aces (e-book, accessed 26 Oct. 2018) 56 A third method..allows you to bridge the card quite openly without raising any suspicion in the spectators.
2018 @multiiflorarose 9 Jan. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I love bridging cards because it sounds like an ATM spitting out stacks.
8.
a. intransitive. Of a person: to assume a posture or position in which the body or back is arched, or pushed up to form an arch. Also transitive: to arch (one's back or body). Also with up.Often in the context of wrestling or other grappling sports, with reference to attempting to escape from a hold.
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1897 H. F. Leonard & F. A. Fernald Hand-bk. Wrestling iii. 98 The man bridging is assumed to continue the revolution of the body so as to wrench his imprisoned wrist free.
1913 C. E. Mulford Coming of Cassidy i. 21 The under man..bridged so suddenly as to throw the hunter off him.
1958 E. Dominy Judo from Beginner to Black Belt i. 47 Place it [sc. the right arm] round his neck and hold his jacket behind his right shoulder. This prevents him bridging up his body in order to escape.
1991 R. J. Brosmer & D. L. Waldron Health & High Performance 33 Mostly performed by football players and wrestlers, this [sc. bridging] is done by lying on the back and bridging up.
2003 R. Gracie & J. Danaher Mastering Jujitsu 138 If your hips rise up, it becomes easy for your opponent to forcefully bridge and carry you to a bad position.
b. transitive. In rock climbing, mountaineering, etc.: to climb (a chimney or similar cleft in a rock face) by stretching the body across it, applying pressure with the hands and feet on the opposing surfaces of the rock face. Also intransitive.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > mountaineering or climbing > mountaineer or climb [verb (intransitive)] > climbing techniques
glissade1837
sidle1867
traverse1897
abseil1908
to back up1909
bridge1909
to rope down1935
jam1950
rappel1950
prusik1959
solo1964
free-climb1968
hand jam1968
jumar1969
layback1972
pendule1973
top-rope1974
crimp1989
free solo1992
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > mountaineering or climbing > mountaineer or climb [verb (transitive)] > climbing techniques
traverse1813
rope1855
bridge1909
chimney1940
solo1962
free-climb1968
jam1968
top-rope1974
free solo1977
hand jam1982
redpoint1986
crimp1991
1909 J. M. A. Thomson & A. W. Andrews Climbs on Lliwedd ii. 37 By inserting the left toe into a little nick, and then thrusting the right foot over to the notch, it is just possible to bridge the blank interval.
1920 G. W. Young Mountain Craft 71 If chimneys are narrow, he is too long to ‘bridge’ them securely.
2012 Dominion Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 15 Sept. 32 Our final section is a chimney again, but this time we're on the outside, bridging between wide rock columns.
9. transitive. Chemistry. Of a group, atom, or bond: to connect (two atoms, molecules, chemical structures, etc.). Also: to connect atoms on opposite sides of (a ring) in this way. Usually in passive. Cf. bridge n.1 23.
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1901 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 79 730 We describe the synthesis of a series of compounds derived from the hydrocarbon [formula], which consists of a pentamethylene ring so bridged as to form a four- and a three-carbon ring united together by two carbon atoms of each.
1957 R. H. Thomson Naturally Occurring Quinones vi. 274 Positions C-1 and C-12, and C-6 and C-7, are bridged by two carbon atoms (which completes two rings).
1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 4193/2 The cofactor FVa..facilitates the enzyme-substrate interactions possibly by bridging the two molecules.
2006 Science 11 Aug. 735/3 Each capsule is composed of four gallium centers bridged by catecholamide ligands.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

† bridgev.2

Forms: Middle English bregge, Middle English breigge, Middle English brigge, 1500s brige.
Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: abridge v.
Etymology: Aphetic < abridge v.
Obsolete.
transitive. To abridge, shorten; to lessen; to curtail. Also intransitive.
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the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > reduce in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (transitive)] > curtail
wanea889
dockc1380
bridgec1384
abridgea1393
limita1398
syncopec1412
defalk1475
shortena1535
to cut short?1542
royn1573
retrench1587
curtail1589
retranch1589
lop1594
scantle1596
scant1599
scantelize1611
curtalize1622
defalce1651
detrench1655
barb1657
defalcatea1690
razee1815
detruncate1846
to cut down1857
shave1898
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Mark xiii. 20 No but the Lord hadde breiggid [a1425 L.V. abredgide] tho dayes.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) ii. l. 5964 Noþeles he wild haf briggid þer fals leue & erroure.
a1425 Of Mynystris in Chirche (Bodl. 788) in T. Arnold Sel. Eng. Wks. J. Wyclif (1871) II. 407 It is peril for to adde or to bregge fro Cristis wordis.
a1500 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Soc. of Antiquaries) f. 251 in J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words (1852) 211 Byreven man his helthe and his welfare, And his dayes briggen.
a1530 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfeccyon (1531) iii. f. lxxxvii An aduersary..contrary to the in all causes, euer brydgynge & lettyng the in euery thynge that myght be to the pleasure or auauntage.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

bridgev.3

Brit. /brɪdʒ/, U.S. /brɪdʒ/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: bridge n.2
Etymology: < bridge n.2 Compare slightly earlier bridger n.3
Now rare.
intransitive. To play the card game bridge (bridge n.2).
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > play bridge [verb (intransitive)]
bridge1908
1908 Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 4/4 We must dine and we must ‘bridge’.
1928 Sunday Express 27 May 15 Shall she Charleston, Blues or Bridge that evening?
1967 E. B. Nickerson Kayaks to Arctic x. 96 And the women coffee and bridge all day.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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