Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BRICK'LE, a. [from break.]

Brittle; easily broken. [Not used.] – Spenser.

BRICK'LE-NESS, n.

Brittleness. [Not used.]

BRICK'MA-KER, n. [brick and make.]

One who makes bricks, or whose occupation is to make bricks.

BRICK'NOG-GING, n.

Brick work carried up and filled in between timber framing.

BRICK'TRIM-MER, n.

In architecture, a brick arch abutting against a wooden trimmer in front of a fire-place to guard against accidents by fire.

BRICK'WORK, n.

The laying of bricks, or a wall of bricks.

BRICK'Y, a.

Full of bricks, or formed of bricks. – Spenser.

BRI'DAL, a. [See Bride.]

Belonging to a bride, or to a wedding; nuptial; connubial; as, bridal ornaments. – Milton. Pope.

BRI'DAL, n.

The nuptial festival. – Dryden.

BRI-DAL'I-TY, n.

Celebration of the nuptial feast. [Not used.] – Jonson.

BRIDE, n. [Sax. bryd; Sw. brud; D. bruid; Ger. braut; Dan. brud; Arm. pryed, pried; W. priod-verch, priodas-verch, a bride; Ir. brideog; W. priodi o verch, to be married; Ar. prietaat, to marry; Corn. benenpriot, a bride; W. priod-vab, a bride-mab, bridegroom; Arm. pridolidh, wedlock. It seems, by the Celtic dialects, that bride is primarily an adjective used with the name of maid or woman, as bridegroom is the same word with the name of a man. In W. priawd, the root of priodas, signifies appropriate, proper, fit; priodi, to render appropriate, to espouse, to marry.]

1. A woman new married. – Johnson. But the name is applied to a woman at the marriage festival, before she is married, as well as after the ceremony.
2. A woman espoused, or contracted to be married. The case of Lewellyn, prince of Wales. – Henry's Hist. of Britain, b. iv, ch. i, sect. 2. [This is the true original sense of the word.]

BRIDE'BED, n. [bride and bed.]

The marriage bed. – Prior.

BRIDE'CAKE, n. [bride and cake.]

The cake which is made for the guests at a wedding; called, in the United States, wedding cake.

BRIDE'CHAM-BER, n.

The nuptial apartment. – Matth. ix.

BRID'ED, a.

Made a bride.

BRIDE'GROOM, n. [Originally and properly bridegoom, from Sax. brydguma; Sw. brudgumme; D. bruidegom; Ger. bräutigam; Dan. brudgom; a compound of bride and gum, guma, a man, which, by our ancestors, was pronounced goom. This word, by a mispronouncing of the last syllable has been corrupted into bridegroom, which signifies a bride's hostler; groom being a Persian word, signifying a man who has the care of horses.]

A man newly married; or a man about to be married. The passage of Shakespeare cited by Johnson proves that the last definition is just. As are three dulcet sounds in break of day, / That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear, / And summon him to marriage.

BRIDE'MAID, n. [bride and maid.]

A woman who attends on a bride at her wedding.

BRIDE'MAN, n. [bride and man.]

A man who attends upon a bridegroom and bride at their marriage. I have generally heard these words pronounced bride's man and bride's maid.

BRIDE'STAKE, n.

A stake or post set in the ground to dance round. – B. Jonson.

BRIDE'WELL, n.

A house of correction for the confinement of disorderly persons; so called from the palace built near St. Bride's or Bridget's welf, in London, which was turned into a workhouse. – Johnson.

BRIDGE, n. [Sax. bric, bricg, brigg, or bryc, brycg; Dan. broe; Sw. bryggia, bro; D. brug; Ger. brücke; Prus. brigge.]

1. Any structure of wood, stone, brick, or iron, raised over a river, pond, or lake, for the passage of men and other animals. Among rude nations, bridges are sometimes formed of other materials; and sometimes they are formed of boats, or logs of wood lying on the water, fastened together, covered with planks, and called floating bridges. A bridge over a marsh is made of logs or other materials laid upon the surface of the earth. Pendent or hanging bridges are not supported by posts, but by the peculiar structure of the frame, resting only on the abutments. A draw bridge is one which is made with hinges, and may be raised or opened. Such bridges are constructed in fortifications, to hinder the passage of a ditch or moat; and over rivers, that the passage of vessels may not be interrupted. A flying bridge is made of pontoons, light boats, hollow beams, empty casks or the like. They are made, as occasion requires, for the passage of armies. A flying bridge is also constructed in such a manner as to move from one side of a river to the other, being made fast in the middle of the river by a cable and an anchor. – Encyc.
2. The upper part of the nose. – Johnson.
3. The part of a stringed instrument of music, over which the strings are stretched, and by which they are raised.
4. In gunnery, the two pieces of timber which go between the two transoms of a gun-carriage. – Encyc.

BRIDGE, v.t.

1. To build a bridge or bridges over; as, to bridge a river.
2. To erect bridges on; to make a passage by a bridge or bridges. – Milton.

BRIDG'ED, pp.

Covered or furnished with a bridge.

BRIDGE'LESS, a.

Having no bridge.

BRIDG'ING, ppr.

Erecting a bridge; building a bridge over.