bridge

pronunciation

How to pronounce bridge in British English: UK [brɪdʒ] word uk audio image

How to pronounce bridge in American English: US [brɪdʒ] word us audio image

Noun:

a structure that allows people or vehicles to cross an obstacle such as a river or canal or railway etc.
a circuit consisting of two branches (4 arms arranged in a diamond configuration) across which a meter is connected
something resembling a bridge in form or function
the hard ridge that forms the upper part of the nose
any of various card games based on whist for four players
a wooden support that holds the strings up
a denture anchored to teeth on either side of missing teeth
the link between two lenses; rests on nose
an upper deck where a ship is steered and the captain stands
Verb:

connect or reduce the distance between
make a bridge across
cross over on a bridge

Word Origin

bridge: bridge: [OE] A distant relative of bridge, Old Slavic bruvino ‘beam’, coupled with the meaning of the cognate Old Norse bryggja ‘gangway’, suggest that the underlying etymological meaning of the word is not ‘spanning structure’ but ‘road or structure made of logs’. The Norse word, incidentally, produced the Scottish and northern English brig ‘bridge’.The card game bridge is first unambiguously mentioned in English in the 1880s, and its name has no connection with the ‘spanning’ bridge. The earliest recorded form of the word is biritch. Its source has never been satisfactorily explained, but since a game resembling bridge is known to have been played for many centuries in the Middle East, it could well be that the name originated in that area.One suggestion put forward is that it came from an unrecorded Turkish *bir-ü, literally ‘one-three’ (one hand being exposed during the game while the other three are concealed).

bridge (n.1): "causeway over a ravine or river," Old English brycge, from Proto-Germanic *brugjo (cognates: Old Saxon bruggia, Old Norse bryggja, Old Frisian brigge, Dutch brug, Old High German brucca, German Brücke), from PIE root *bhru "log, beam," hence "wooden causeway" (cognates: Gaulish briva "bridge," Old Church Slavonic bruvuno "beam," Serbian brv "footbridge"). For vowel evolution, see bury. Meaning "bony upper part of the nose" is from early 15c.; of stringed instruments from late 14c. The bridge of a ship (by 1854) originally was a "narrow raised platform athwart the ship whence the Captain issues his orders" [Sir Geoffrey Callender, "Sea Passages"]. Bridge in steam-vessels is the connection between the paddle-boxes, from which the officer in charge directs the motion of the vessel. [Smythe, "The Sailor's Word-Book," 1867]

bridge (v.): Old English brycgian "to bridge, make a causeway," from bridge (n.). Related: Bridged; bridging.

bridge (n.2): card game, 1886 (perhaps as early as 1843), an alteration of biritch, but the source and meaning of that are obscure. "Probably of Levantine origin, since some form of the game appears to have been long known in the Near East" [OED]. One guess is that it represents Turkish *bir-üç "one-three," because one hand is exposed and three are concealed. The game also was known early as Russian whist (attested in English from 1839).