| 释义 |
▪ I. bridge, n.1|brɪdʒ|
Forms: 1 brycg, bricg, 2–6 brugge, 3–6 brygge, 4–6 bregge, (brige), 4–7 brigge, (5–6, 9 dial. brudge, bryg(e, 6 bruge), 6–7 bridg, 5– bridge; also northern 3– brig, 4–6 brygg, 5 bregg, brigg, 5–9 brigg.
[Common Teut.: OE. brycg fem., identical with OFris. brigge, bregge, (MLG. brugge, MDu. brugghe, Du. brug), OHG. brucca (MHG., mod.G. brücke):—OTeut. *brugjâ-. The corresponding ON. bryggja has the sense ‘landing-stage, gangway, movable pier’; the ON. word for ‘bridge’ being brú fem. (Da. bro, Sw. bro). As in other OE. words in -cg, the northern dialect has retained hard (g) against the palatalized |dʒ| of the south.]
1. a. A structure forming or carrying a road over a river, a ravine, etc., or affording passage between two points at a height above the ground.
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, chains, tubes, etc.
For the different kinds, as bascule-bridge, bowstring-bridge, chain-bridge, draw-bridge, floating-bridge, pontoon-bridge, suspension-bridge, tubular-bridge, etc., also Asses' Bridge: see the first element of the compounds.
c1000ælfric Gram. ix. §39 (Z.) 63 Hic pons, þeos brycg [v.r. brigc]. a1131O.E. Chron. an. 1125 Men weorðon adrencte and brigges to brokene. c1175Lamb. Hom. 31 Dele hit wrecche monne, oðer to brugge oðer to chirche weorke. c1330Arth. & Merl. 7803 This bachelers hadden a bregge y⁓passed. c1380Sir Ferumb. 1679 Hit ys Mantryble þat þow sye wyþ þe grete brigge. c1449Pecock Repr. iii. x. 338 The brigge of Londoun. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. cxcii. 169 The scottes hobilers went bytwene the brudge and the englysshmen. 1552–3Inv. Ch. Goods Stafford. 33 To make a bruge called Hugh Bruge. 1556Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 11 The erles hede with one of hys qwarters of the lordes ware sett on London bregge. Ibid. 17 Thys yere sanke a parte of London brygge with two arches. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. ii. 72 They account his Head vpon the Bridge. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xvii. (1632) 868 [He] came hastily to the Brigge. 1660Walpole in Cobbett Parl. Hist. (1808) IV. 145 This was so severe a bill upon the Women, that, if a bridge was made from Dover to Calais, the women would all leave this kingdom. 1685Morden Geog. Rect. 112 Cæsar's Bridg over the Rhine is one of the antientest in Europe. 1817Byron Ch. Har. iv. 1, I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs, A palace and a prison on each hand. 1843Macaulay Lays Anc. Rome, Horatius lxx, How well Horatius kept the bridge, In the brave days of old.
(β) The form brig is used from Northamptonshire northward in the local dialects, in proper names, and in literature for the sake of local colouring.
a1300Cursor M. 8945 Þai..mad a brig Ouer a litel burn to lig. 1375Barbour Bruce x. 86 At ane Brig beneth. 1418Bury Wills (1850) 3 Apd Stanewelle bregg. 1572Lament. Lady Scotl. in Scot. Poems 16th C. (1801) II. 247 Palice, kirk, and brig, Better in tyme to beit, nor efter to big. 1647H. More Insomn. Philos. xviii. 2 Passing as water underneath a brig. 1787Burns Twa Brigs, The Sprites that owre the Brigs of Ayr preside. 1821Clare Vill. Minst. I. 46 He loved to view the mossy-arched brigs. 1852C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) IV. ix. 103 Whenever he should pass the brig of Cramond. 1875Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., The most southerly point of the county where ‘brig’ is used..is..Bamber Brig, a few miles south of Preston. 1876Tennyson North. Farmer (new style) xiv, I'll run up to the brig.
b. fig. Also attrib., as bridge church, bridge passage (see 11 b).
a1225Ancr. R. 242 Ȝe beoð ouer þisse worldes see, uppen þe brugge of heouene. 1742Young Nt. Th. viii. 717 Faith builds a bridge from this world to the next. 1863E. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 63 The bridge for thought to pass from one particular to the other. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. i. 53 Gestures..forming the bridge by which we may pass over into spoken language. 1931Ann. Reg. 1930 ii. 238 The replacement of the Marqués de Estella's Cabinet by a ‘bridge’ Government. 1950Time 4 Sept. 33/1 Radio dramas have always depended on music to get listeners from one mood or scene into another, fast. In the trade, such six- or eight-bar snatches of music are called cues or ‘bridges’. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio ix. 158 Effects can often be peaked as a bridge between two parts of the same scene. Ibid. 159 As an alternative to the simple fade-out/fade-in technique..music bridges can be used.
c. bridge of boats: a roadway supported by boats moored abreast across a stream or other body of water; cf. flying-bridge, pontoon.
1387Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 55 (Mätz.) Þere Xerxes þe kyng made ouer a brigge of schippes. 1688Lond. Gaz. No. 2346/2 They had begun a Bastion at the Head of the Bridge of Boats. 1811Wellington Let. in Gurw. Disp. VII. 151 There will be no difficulty in laying a bridge of boats.
d. † beside the bridge: off the track, gone astray (obs.). a gold or silver bridge: an easy and attractive way of escape. (F. faire un pont d'or à ses ennemis, Littré.)
1579Fenton Guicciard. ii. (1599) 78 Not to stoppe the way of the enemy..but rather (according to an old councell) to make him a bridge of silver. 1652Culpepper Eng. Physic. Enl. (1809) 338 If Pontanus say otherwise, he is beside the bridge. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals iii. 1. 233 Who willingly made him a Golden Bridge, to send him going. 1755Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 180 Lay a bridge of silver for a flying enemy. 1824Byron Def. Transf. ii. ii. 14 A golden bridge Is for a flying enemy.
e. Proverbial phr. to cross a (or the) bridge when one comes to it: to deal with a problem when and if it arises; to burn one's bridges behind one: to burn one's boats (see burn v.1 9 c).
1850Longfellow Jrnl. 29 Apr. in Life (1886) II. 165 Remember the proverb, ‘Do not cross the bridge till you come to it.’ 1892‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claim. 94 It might be pardonable to burn his bridges behind him. 1914E. 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. 1930J. C. Ransom God without Thunder (1931) vii. 166 If Plato had had the opportunity, he might have become a Christian, and burned his bridges behind him. 1943E. S. Gardner Case of Empty Tin i. 13 We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
2. Short for drawbridge.
c1205Lay. 19242 Heore brugge heo duden adun. c1325Coer de L. 3955 Her brygges wounden up in haste, And her gates barryd faste. c1470Henry Wallace iv. 262 Thai..Tuk wp the bryg or that the day was lycht.
3. a. A gangway or movable landing-stage for boats. b. A fixed or floating landing-stage, jetty, or pier. Obs. or dial. [The Norse senses.]
c1375Barbour Bruce xvii. 403 A brig thai had, for till lat fall, Richt fra the bat apon the wall. 1425Sc. Acts Jas. I (1597) §59 All boate men and ferrymen..sall haue for ilke boate a treene-brigge, qwhair-with they may receiue within their boates travellers Horse vnhurte. c1560Map in Maitland Hist. Lond. has two landing jetties marked privy bridge at ‘privy gardens’, and Queens-bridge at Whitehall. a1600Map in G. G. Scott Gleanings Westm. Ab. Plate 35 Old pallace bridge. Kinges-bridge. 1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2170/4 Lost or stolen..at Billingsgate Stairs, or Gravesend-Bridge, an old Black leather Trunk. 1850P. Cunningham Handbk. Lond., When we read in our old writers of Ivy-bridge, Strand-bridge, Whitehall-bridge, and Lambeth-bridge, landing piers alone are meant. 1879Lewis & Short Lat. Dict. s.v. Pons ii. C, A plank bridge thrown from a vessel to the shore.
4. ‘A narrow ridge of rock, sand, or shingle, across the bottom of a channel.’
1812Examiner 14 Sept. 590/2 It is proposed to construct a Pier on the bridge between St. Nicholas and Mount Edgecombe. 1833Marryat P. Simple xxviii, Is there water enough to cross the bridge? The sea on the bridge was very heavy. 1835Bell Gaz. II. 236 Filey-bridge. 1864Black Guide Yorks. 110 Filey Brig..is a remarkable ridge of rocks, projecting nearly half a mile into the sea and perfectly dry at low water.
5. Naut. The raised narrow deck or platform extending from side to side of a steamer amidships, from which the officer in command directs the motion of the vessel. Also ‘a narrow gangway between two hatchways’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.).
1843C. Bailey Loss of Pegasus 44 He afterwards went on the bridge over the paddle-wheels. 1858Merc. Mar. Mag. V. 53 The Boatswain was on the bridge. 1859All Y. Round No. i. 19 The Chinese..seized the arm-chest, which was on the bridge.
6. Phys.
a. The upper bony part of the nose. Also the curved central part of a pair of spectacles or eye-glasses which rests on the nose.
c1450Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 631 The brygge of þe nose. 1483Cath. Angl. 44 A Bryge of a nese, jnterfinium. 1530Palsgr. 201/1 Bridge of the nose, os du nez. 1604Dekker Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 174 Hauing the bridge of my nose broken. a1659Cleveland Rupertismus 82 Let the Zeal-twanging Nose that wants a Ridge, Snuffling devoutly, drop his silver Bridge. 1839–47Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. III. 736/2 The Caucasian nose is..elevated at the bridge.
b. A portion of the brain which stretches in a curve between the two lobes of the cerebellum in front of the medulla oblongata.
1869Huxley Phys. 297 [The cerebellum] sends down several layers of transverse fibres..forming a kind of bridge (called Pons Varolii). 1879Calderwood Mind & Br. 36 In one solid mass, with transverse lines, is the bridge.
7. In a violin, or similar instrument: A thin, upright piece of wood, over which the strings are stretched, and which transmits their vibrations to the body of the instrument.
1607Dekker Westw. Hoe Wks. 1873 II. 341 One of the poore instruments caught a sore mischance last night: his most base bridge fell downe. 1731Holder Harmony 11 The string of a Musical Instrument resembling a double pendulum moving upon two centers, the Nut and the Bridge. 1832L. Hunt Poems Pref. 23 It has a look like the bridge of a lute. 1848J. Bishop tr. Otto's Violin App. iii. (1875) 79 The bridge..exercises an immense influence..on the quality of the tone of the violin.
8. (north. dial. in form brig:) Applied to various utensils of more or less bridge-like form, e.g. a tripod for holding a pot over a fire.
1600Churchw. Acc. St. Margarets, Westm. (Nicholls 1797) 26 Making a pair of butts and brigs and for the carpenters work. 1847–78Halliwell Dict., Brig, an utensil used in brewing and in dairies to set the strainer upon. north. A kind of iron, set over a fire is so called. 1875Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Briggs, irons to set over the fire.
9. In various specific and technical senses:
a. A ‘bridging-joist’, one of those joists which, in large floors, are laid upon the main or ‘binding-joists’, and to which the flooring boards are secured.
1663Gerbier Counsel 43 For the boarding roomes..Carpenters lay Bridges overtwhart the Joyses.
b. In a furnace or boiler: A low vertical partition at the back of the grate space of a furnace; the low partition wall between the fuel-chamber and the hearth of a reverberatory furnace; ‘the central part of the fire-bars in a marine boiler, on either side of which the fires are banked’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.).
1838Penny 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.
c. Iron-works. The platform or plank-way by which ore or fuel is conveyed to the mouth of a smelting furnace.
d. Scene-painting. A platform suspended in front of a canvass.
1859Sala Gaslight & D. ii. 23 A ladder being placed against the bridge if he wishes to descend without shifting the position of his platform.
e. Engraving. A board, supported at each end, used to raise the engraver's hand above the plate.
1875Ure Dict. Arts II. 285 What is technically called a bridge..is nothing more than a thin board for the hand to rest on. Ibid. 286 The bridge being laid over the plate, the process of etching may now be commenced.
f. Billiards. The support formed by the left hand in making a stroke. Also (chiefly U.S.) = rest n.1 11 c; the (usu. cross-shaped) tip of this.
1873Bennett & Cavendish Billiards 31 The bridge has now to be made, on which the cue is to be laid when aiming and striking. 1893Rules 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. 1909in Webster. 1964C. Cottingham Game of Billiards (1984) ii. 39 A bridge is also an elongated cue with a notched, fanlike tip which is used for making shots that are difficult to reach, or which cannot be made with a hand bridge because of the presence of interfering balls or because of excessive distance for comfortable hand bridge. Ibid. iv. 57 A mechanical bridge..is held firmly on the base of the table, on an angle to the cue ball. 1978G. Fels Pool Simplified, Somewhat ii. 9 The way you accomplish that is to use the mechanical bridge, also called the rake, crutch, ladies' aid, and a number of barely printable epithets. Get comfortable with the bridge; it helps you reach every conceivable shot on the table.
g. Saddlery. A part of the harness resembling a buckle, but without the tongue, to which strapping is looped or sewed: also the bar (or bars) joining its sides.
1801Felton Carriages II. 133 In each strap a bridge is sewed. Ibid. The crupper..is looped through the housing bridge, and buckled about the middle.
h. Electr. An electrical circuit for measuring resistance or other properties by equalizing the potential at two points. Also bridge circuit.
1872[see Wheatstone]. 1881Maxwell Electr. & Magn. I. 447 Four conductors of great resistance may also be arranged as in Wheatstone's Bridge, and the bridge itself may consist of the electrodes of an electrometer. 1933A. Hund High-Frequency Measurements iii. 97 The system shown in Fig. 57 is a bridge circuit balanced by a direct current I. 1942J. G. Brainerd Ultra-High-Frequency Techniques iii. 164 Either of these circuits is equivalent to a balanced bridge circuit. 1964Times 31 Aug. 7/4 The Zwislocki acoustic bridge, which measures the acoustic impedance of the ear.
i. Dentistry. A false tooth or teeth usually connected to natural teeth on each side. Also attrib.; cf. bridge-work (s.v. 11 b).
1883J. L. Williams in Dental Cosmos Dec. 629 A bridge of the six superior front teeth. 1891Brit. Jrnl. Dental Sci. XXXIV. 65 Dr. Melotte..made a small bridge of one tooth. 1963C. R. Cowell et al. Inlays, Crowns & Bridges ii. 4 A gold inlay is the most suitable type of bridge retainer. 1965H. Gold Man who was not with It xxx. 281 Mrs. Nancy..gave me a smile with her new bridge.
10. In Card-playing: see bridging 1 b. spec. in Euchre (see quot. 1891).
1859Lever Davenp. Dunn I. 251 (Hoppe) I've found out the way that Yankee fellow does the king. It's not the common bridge that every body knows. 1860Mayhew Lond. Lab. I. 266 (Hoppe). 1891‘L. Hoffman’ 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.
11. Comb. and attrib.
a. gen., as bridge-arch, bridge-builder, bridge-building, bridge-foot, bridge-maker, bridge-work; bridge-like adj.
1772C. Hutton Bridges 6 A *Bridge-builder should be employed.
1751(title) Gephyralogia..including..an abstract of the rules of *bridge-building. 1931J. S. Huxley What dare I Think? vi. 199 There is no such instinct, any more than there is..a bridge-building instinct.
1850Alison Hist. Europe III. xviii. §39. 567 Jourdan, having..procured the necessary *bridge-equipage, prepared to cross the river.
1536Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 59 From Temple Barr to the *bridg-foote in Southwarke. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4019/4 Robert Adams..near the Bridge-foot, London.
1820Shelley Cloud, From cape to cape, with a *bridge-like shape, Over a torrent sea.
1611H. Broughton Require Agreem. 76 The *Bridge-maker [= pontiff] of Rome is blamed of Saint Paul. 1877Outlines Hist. Religion 237 No special deity claimed the services of the Pontifices, the bridge- or road-makers.
b. Special comb.: bridge-board (see quot.); † bridge-bote, an ancient tax or contribution for the repair of bridges; bridge-building, (a) see sense 11 a; (b) fig., the promotion and development of friendly relations between countries, etc.; bridge church, a faith in which elements of two systems of religious belief are found together; bridge circuit (see 9 h); bridge-deck (see 5); bridge-gutter, a gutter formed of boards covered with lead and supported on bearers, a bridged gutter; bridge-head, a fortification covering or protecting the end of a bridge nearest the enemy, = F. tête de pont; also, any military position established in the face of the enemy, e.g. by a landing force; also fig.; bridge-islet (see quot.); bridge-man, the keeper of a bridge; = bridge-master; bridge-money, money levied for the construction and repair of bridges; bridge-note, a note in Tonic Sol-fa music which marks the transition into a new key; bridge passage, a transitional passage in a musical or literary composition; bridge-pin, part of a gun; bridge-rail, (a) (see quot.); (b) a rail around the bridge of a ship; † bridge-silver = bridge-money; bridge spectacles U.S. = pince-nez; bridge-stone, a flat stone, or flag, spanning a gutter or a sunken area; bridge-tone = bridge-note; bridge-train, a company of Military Engineers equipped for bridge-building, and carrying all the material and appliances for floating bridges; bridge-tree, a splinter-bar or swingle-tree; also, the adjustable beam which supports the spindle of the ‘runner’ or upper stone in a grain mill; bridge-way, the way formed by a bridge, the road or passage running over a bridge; also, the water-way which lies beneath it; bridge-work Dentistry = sense 9 i; also, the insertion of such a bridge. Also bridge-house, -master, -ward.
1876Gwilt Archit. Gloss., *Bridge Board, a board into which the ends of the steps of wooden stairs are fastened.
c1250Gloss. Law Terms in Rel. Ant. I. 33 *Briggebote. 1844Lingard Anglo-Saxon Ch. (1858) I. vi. 221 Bryge-bot, or contribution towards the repair of bridges and highways.
1967N.Y. Times in W. Safire New Lang. Politics (1968) 55/1 The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced the Administration's East–West *bridge-building program today by approving the United States–Soviet consular treaty. 1985Christian Science Monitor 11 June 21/1 This process of bridge building in Indo–US relations began with the visit of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the United States in June 1982.
1927Church Times 2 Sept. 266/1 Dr. Gore accepts for it [sc. the Anglican Church] its description by a Lutheran as a brücke Kirche—a *bridge Church between Catholicism and Protestantism.
1812Examiner 28 Dec. 821/2 General Dombrowski defended the *bridge head of Borisow. 1877Clery Min. Tact. xv. 207 When the defenders hold a bridge head or other fortified post on the river. 1930Economist 22 Mar. 632/2 The Channel tunnel..would be a hopelessly vulnerable ‘bridge-head’. 1938Star (Kansas City) 22 Apr. 1/1 Counterattacks had reduced insurgent bridgeheads. 1940R. W. B. Clarke Britain's Blockade 6 The Nazis aim at using these territories as bridge-heads for the attack on Britain. 1944Ann. Reg. 1943 25 British troops established a bridgehead of considerable width. 1959Listener 2 Apr. 583/2 Once we have secured these export bridgeheads we can of course expect greater benefits.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Bridge-islet, a portion of land which becomes insular at high-water.
1648Herrick Hesper. I. 52 Let it be thy pensil's strife To paint a *bridgeman to the life. 1683Lond. Gaz. No. 1862/5 The Warden, Bridgemen, and Burgesses of Your Majesties Corporation of Henley upon Thames. 1783Hamilton in Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 181 The duke's bridge-man told me also, that..this great river was perfectly dry for some seconds.
1826Protests Lords III. 70 The taxes imposed on the land in the shape of road and *bridge money.
1879Curwen Mus. Theory 54 We call the tone represented by the *bridge-note the ‘Transmutation-tone.’
1927Melody Maker Sept. 926/2 Rhythmic construction of introductions, *bridge passages, modulations, interludes [etc.]. 1959Times Lit. Suppl. 5 June 330/5 There are no bridge passages in this book. 1962N. Del Mar R. Strauss ii. 41 There is a bridge passage based on the rising octave figure.
1741Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. i. 320 Let your *Bridge-Pin be something above your Touch-hole.
1851Coal-tr. Terms Northumbld. & Durh. 11 *Bridge-rails..are now much used in barrow-ways, instead of tram-plates. 1875Ure Dict. Arts III. 692 Beside flat rails..we have bridge rails employed, which have the form of a reversed U. 1915‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship i. 14 The Captain, clinging to the bridge rail to maintain his balance.
1830J. F. Watson Annals 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.
1884Athenæum 16 Aug. 209/2 Simon de Montfort's charter for the remission of gable-pence and *bridge-silver to the burgesses of Leicester.
1876Gwilt Archit. Gloss., *Bridge Stone, a stone laid from the pavement to the entrance door of a house over a sunk area and supported by an arch.
1879Curwen Mus. Theory 54 The notation of Transition by means of *Bridge-tones we call the ‘proper notation’.
1617Markham Caval. v. 54 The draught-breadthes..extend from the breast of the Horse to the *bridge-tree of the Coach. 1822J. Imison Sc. & Art I. 69 One end of the bridge-tree which supports the spindle rests upon the wall.
1823Blackw. Mag. XIII. 335 A sort of *bridgeway betwixt this world and infinity. 1884G. 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.
1883J. L. Williams in Dental Cosmos Dec. 624 So far as the *‘bridge⁓work’ is concerned. 1885I. E. & R. E. Clifford (title) Crown, Bar & Bridge-work. 1935Wodehouse Luck of Bodkins xxi. 267 Causing George to double up like a pocket-rule and nearly swallow his bridge-work. 1963C. R. Cowell et al. Inlays, Crowns & Bridges vii. 65 Very occasionally, jacket crowns may be used as retainers in anterior bridgework.
▸ a bridge too far: a step beyond what is safe, sensible, or desirable.
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).
[1944F. A. M. Browning in R. E. Urquhart & W. Greatorex Arnhem (1958) 4, I think we might be going a bridge too far.] 1977Economist (Nexis) 24 Sept. 15 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. 1994M. J. Farah & G. Ratcliff Neuropsychol. High-level Vision 125 Are we then, at this stage, taking a bridge too far in seeking to impose a tight theoretical framework on disorders of object recognition? 2004Nation 22 Nov. 6/1 What has the President..learned from Iraq? Did he learn it was a bridge too far?
▸ Music. a. A transitional, often contrasting, passage linking two sections of a composition (cf. bridge passage n. at Compounds 2); 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. Special uses 1).
1926C. 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. 1933D. G. Mason Chamber Music Brahms 24 A broadly lyric melody in D Minor that we at first take to be the second theme, but that proves to be only a sort of under-study and transition to it (‘Bridge’). 1957Amer. Speech 32 278 Bridge, the third eight bars in a popular song chorus. 1961A. 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. 1986Making Music Apr. 24/2 The best bridges are always an inversion of either the verse or the chorus. 1996J. McCalla 20th Cent. Chamber Music (2003) iv. 164 After the briefest of breaths, what seems to be a bridge begins, with open fifths in the viola and harp. 2000N. Catalano Clifford Brown 122 During the first bridge, Land's intonation truly captures the mood of the piece.
b. orig. U.S.to take it to the bridge: (in popular music) to begin playing the bridge section of a song, typically following a period of improvisation; (also in extended use) to perform with increased vigour, to expend extra effort.
1970J. Brown Get up (I feel like being a) Sex Machine (song) in Sex Machine (MS transcript) Can I take it to the bridge, fellas? 1977Los Angeles Times 1 July iii. 3/1 Boog Powell is always telling guys to take it to the bridge... That's the expression he uses when he means to hit it out, to hit a home run. 1988R. Doyle Commitments (1991) 110 Whooo! said Deco.—Let's take it to the bridge. 1990Washington Times (Nexis) 20 Nov. b3 It is time for us to wake up, time to take charge, time to take it to the bridge. 1997St. 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 and seamlessly kicked into another crowd favorite ‘Little Red Corvette’.
▪ II. bridge, n.2|brɪdʒ|
Also 9 biritch, britch, 9– Bridge.
[Etym. unascertained; prob. of Levantine origin, since some form of the game appears to have been long known in the Near East; the origin of the seemingly Russian forms biritch, britch, is unknown; an unrecorded Turkish form *bir-üç ‘one-three’ (since one hand is exposed and three concealed) was postulated as the source in N. & Q. (1969), 430–1.]
a. A card-game based upon whist. In the original form of the game the dealer or his partner (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. Now = auction or contract bridge.
The game is said to have been played in Constantinople and the Near East about 1870. Formerly also called Bridge Whist (see sense c below). The sense in quot. 1843 is uncertain; biritch in quots. 1886 is applied to the call of ‘no trumps’.
[1843J. Paget Let. 18 Apr. in Mem. & Lett. (1901) i. vi. 144 We improved our minds in the intellectual games of Bagatelle and Bridge.] 1886Biritch, or Russian Whist 2 The one declaring may, instead of declaring trumps, say ‘Biritch’, which means that the hands shall be played without trumps. Ibid. 3 The odd tricks count as follows:—If ‘Biritch’ is declared each [odd trick counts] 10 points. Ibid. 4 There are four honours if ‘Biritch’ is declared, which are the four aces. 1898‘Boaz’ (title) The Pocket Guide to Bridge. 1898Nat. Rev. Aug. 809 At a game of wint or bridge. 1901‘Slam’ Mod. Bridge Introd., ‘Bridge’, known in Turkey as ‘Britch’. 1963G. F. Hervey Handbk. Card Games 131 The modern game of Bridge, more correctly Contract Bridge, to distinguish it from its now-defunct predecessors, was developed by Harold S. Vanderbilt.
b. auction bridge: a variety of the game which superseded the original form. The right to name trumps and to play with the dummy goes, for each deal, to the player who undertakes to make the highest score. See also contract bridge s.v. contract n.1 1 g).
1903O. Crawford in Times 16 Jan. 5/6 ‘Auction bridge’..is more lively than dummy bridge. 1908Dalton Auction Bridge p. iii, Auction Bridge is really a clever combination of the two games of Poker and Bridge. 1959T. Reese Bridge Player's Dict. 18 Auction bridge, the predecessor of contract, held sway from about 1911..to 1928, when contract began to be popular. 1960Betjeman Summoned by Bells i. 5 Happy and tense they played at Auction Bridge.
c. attrib. and Comb., as bridge-coat, bridge-drive, bridge-four, bridge-party, bridge-player, bridge-playing adj., bridge-scorer, bridge-table, bridge-whist; bridge-marker, a pad on which bridge scores are noted; bridge roll [or ? bridge n.1], a soft, oval, bread roll.
1905Daily Chron. 29 May 8/4 A dainty bridge-coat in white soft glacé silk. 1928R. Macaulay Keeping up Appearances viii. 78 She had no bridge coat, a mysterious garment apparently donned by bridge-players.
1927Auction Bridge Mag. May 19/2 ‘Bridge Drives’..make you go ‘all out’ when there is a chance of a big killing.
1914C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iii. v. 576 Michael and a large party of freshmen..had sustained themselves with dressed crab and sleepy bridge-fours. 1953D. Parry Going up—Going Down vi. 315 Afterwards there was a bridge four and Clive played billiards.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 386/3 Bridge Scoring Block..Bridge Scoring Book..Bridge Book. Ruled for Engagements. Scoring and Total..Bridge Marker. 1914‘Saki’ Beasts & Super-Beasts 258 ‘What did one send them?’..‘Bridge-markers.’
1910― Reg. in Russia & Other Sk. 96 Occasionally she went to bridge parties. 1949M. Laski Little Boy Lost i. i. 9 The bridge-parties and the brittle gossip.
1899A. G. Hulme-Beaman Pons Asinorum 50 No amount of rule and precept will suffice to make a first-class Bridge player. 1967E. Lemarchand Death of Old Girl xvii. 194 His brilliance as a bridge player.
1907E. Wharton Fruit of Tree ii. xvi. 244 A cluster of young bridge-playing couples. 1967J. Symons Man who killed Himself i. i. 10 Half a dozen bridge-playing couples.
1926D. D. C. Taylor Good Housekeeping Menu 106 Social Tea..Bridge Rolls and Cress, White and Brown Bread and Butter. 1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 371/2 Bridge rolls are split, buttered and filled with a variety of sweet and savoury fillings.
1908A. Bennett Buried Alive vi. 139 Manilla cigars, bridge scorers, [etc.]..seemed to be the principal objects offered for sale. 1951R. Senhouse tr. Colette's Chéri 111 Let's..buy playing-cards, good wine, bridge-scorers.
1905Daily Chron. 27 Dec. 4/5 Are we, as they say at the bridge-table, ‘content’?
1899A. G. Hulme-Beaman Pons Asinorum 46 As in Bridge Whist everybody plays his own game.
d. ellipt. = bridge-party.
1907R. Brooke Let. 7 Apr. (1968) 81 The ugly friend of the Simpson's, who won a prize at our bridge last winter. 1966H. Kemelman Saturday the Rabbi went Hungry (1967) xx. 121 My wife gave a bridge and invited his wife.
Hence bridge v.3 intr., to play bridge; ˈbridger (cf. F. bridgeur, 1893), a bridge-player.
1907Mrs. H. De La Pasture Lonely Lady xvi. 279 Miss de Courset, come and play billiard-fives,..unless you are a bridger. Are you a bridger? 1908Daily Chron. 14 Nov. 6/4 We must dine and we must ‘bridge’. 1928Sunday Express 27 May 15 Shall she Charleston, Blues or Bridge that evening?
▪ III. bridge, v.1|brɪdʒ|
Forms: 1 brycgian, 3 brugge-n, 3–4 brigge(n, 7– bridge.
[OE. brycgian, f. brycg, bridge, n.1; cf. OHG. bruccôn, MHG. brucken, brücken.]
1. trans.
a. To make a bridge over (a river, ravine, etc.); to span with a bridge or similar means of passage. Often predicated of the thing which spans. Often with across, over.
a1000Andreas 1263 (Gr.), Is brycgade blæce brimrade. c1205Lay. 21276 Þa al wes Auene stram mid stele ibrugged. 1375Barbour Bruce xii. 404 Thai had befor [the] day Briggit the pollis. 1665Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 155 Now that the Schelde was thus bridged. 1718Pope Iliad xxi. 274 The large trunk..Bridg'd the rough flood across. 1846Grote Greece (1862) II. i. 21 A strait narrow enough to be bridged over. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xlii. (1856) 388 An arch of ice..bridging a fissure. 1879Froude Cæsar xxviii. 485 They bridged the Rhine in a week.
†b. To overlay, spread over. Obs.
c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 91 Þe children briggeden þe wei biforen ure drihten, sume mid here cloðes. Ibid. Sume briggeden þe asse mid here cloðes, and sume mid boȝes þe hie breken of þe trewes.
c. To span or cross as with a bridge.
1872Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. xiii. 91 A speculator bridged a couple of barrels with a board. 1876Gwilt Archit. Gloss. s.v. Bridge-over, The upper joists..bridge over the beams or binding-joists, and.. are called bridging-joists.
d. fig.
1853Clough Songs in Abs. vii. 8 The wide and weltering waste above—Our hearts have bridged it with their love. 1862Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. i. 24 To bridge over the space which separates the known from the unknown. 1879Proctor Pleas. Ways Sc. xiii. 326 The gap between the lowest savage and the highest ape is not easily bridged.
2. To form (a way) by means of a bridge.
1667Milton P.L. x. 310 Xerxes..Over Hellespont Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joyn'd. 1705J. Philips Blenheim (R.) Advance; we'll bridge a way, Safe of access.
3. slang. (See quot.)
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., To bridge a person, or to throw him over the bridge, is..to deceive him by betraying the confidence he has reposed in you.
▪ IV. † bridge, v.2 Obs.
Forms: 4 bregge, breigge, 4–5 brigge, 6 brydge.
[aphet. form of abregge, abridge, a. F. abréger to shorten.]
trans. To abridge, shorten, lessen; to curtail. Also absol.
1330R. Brunne Chron. 247 Noþeles he wild haf briggid, þe fals leue & erroure. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 407 It is peril to adde or to bregge fro Cristis wordis. 1382― Mark xiii. 20 No but the Lord hadde breiggid [1388 abredgide] tho dayes. c1430–40Hoccleve MS. Soc. Antiq. 134 f. 251 a, Sorow and care Byreven man his helþe, And his dayes briggen. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 97 An aduersary..euer brydgynge & lettyng the in euery thynge.
Hence † ˈbridgement, an abridgement, epitome; † ˈbridger, an abridger or epitomizer; † ˈbridging vbl. n., shortening.
1382Wyclif Bible, Pref. Epist. I. 72/2 Perlipomynon, that is, the book of the olde instrument, recapitulatour, word bregger. ― 2 Macc. ii. 32 To be grauntid to the bregger [Vulg. brevianti]. ― Wks. (1880) 74 Þo þat ben cursed of god for bregynge of his hestis..ben not ponyschid þus.c1534tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846) I. 197 Let this compendius brigement suffice. 1559Morwyng Evonymus 320 The Breviarium or Bridgment of Arnold de Villa Nova. |
