bridge definition | Dictionary.com

bridge

1 [brij]

noun, verb, bridged, bridg⋅ing, adjective

–noun

1.	a structure spanning and providing passage over a river, chasm, road, or the like.

2.	a connecting, transitional, or intermediate route or phase between two adjacent elements, activities, conditions, or the like: Working at the hospital was a bridge between medical school and private practice.

Nautical.

a.	a raised transverse platform from which a power vessel is navigated: often includes a pilot house and a chart house.

b.	any of various other raised platforms from which the navigation or docking of a vessel is supervised.

c.	a bridge house or bridge superstructure.

d.	a raised walkway running fore-and-aft.

4.	Anatomy. the ridge or upper line of the nose.

5.	Dentistry. an artificial replacement, fixed or removable, of a missing tooth or teeth, supported by natural teeth or roots adjacent to the space.

Music.

a.	a thin, fixed wedge or support raising the strings of a musical instrument above the sounding board.

b.	a transitional, modulatory passage connecting sections of a composition or movement.

c.	(in jazz and popular music) the contrasting third group of eight bars in a thirty-two-bar chorus; channel; release.

7.	Also, bridge passage. a passage in a literary work or a scene in a play serving as a movement between two other passages or scenes of greater importance.

8.	Ophthalmology. the part of a pair of eyeglasses that joins the two lenses and rests on the bridge or sides of the nose.

Also called bridge circuit. Electricity. a two-branch network, including a measuring device, as a galvanometer, in which the unknown resistance, capacitance, inductance, or impedance of one component can be measured by balancing the voltage in each branch and computing the unknown value from the known values of the other components. Compare Wheatstone bridge.

10.	Railroads. a gantry over a track or tracks for supporting waterspouts, signals, etc.

11.	Building Trades. a scaffold built over a sidewalk alongside a construction or demolition site to protect pedestrians and motor traffic from falling materials.

12.

Metallurgy.

a.	a ridge or wall-like projection of fire brick or the like, at each end of the hearth in a metallurgical furnace.

b.	any layer of partially fused or densely compacted material preventing the proper gravitational movement of molten material, as in a blast furnace or cupola, or the proper compacting of metal powder in a mold.

13.	(in a twist drill) the conoid area between the flutes at the drilling end.

14.

Billiards, Pool.

a.	the arch formed by the hand and fingers to support and guide the striking end of a cue.

b.	a notched piece of wood with a long handle, used to support the striking end of the cue when the hand cannot do so comfortably; rest.

15.	transitional music, commentary, dialogue, or the like, between two parts of a radio or television program.

16.

Theater.

a.	a gallery or platform that can be raised or lowered over a stage and is used by technicians, stagehands, etc., for painting scenery (paint bridge), arranging and supporting lights (light bridge), or the like.

b.	British. a part of the floor of a stage that can be raised or lowered.

17.	Horology. a partial plate, supported at both ends, holding bearings on the side opposite the dial. Compare cock ¹ (def. 10).

18.	Chemistry. a valence bond illustrating the connection of two parts of a molecule.

19.	a support or prop, usually timber, for the roof of a mine, cave, etc.

20.	any arch or rooflike figure formed by acrobats, dancers, etc., as by joining and raising hands.

–verb (used with object)

21.	to make a bridge or passage over; span: The road bridged the river.

22.	to join by or as if by a bridge: a fallen tree bridging the two porches.

23.	to make (a way) by a bridge.

–verb (used without object)

24.	Foundry. (of molten metal) to form layers or areas heterogeneous either in material or in degree of hardness.

–adjective

25.	(esp. of clothing) less expensive than a manufacturer's most expensive products: showing his bridge line for the fall season.

—Idiom

26.	burn one's bridges (behind one), to eliminate all possibilities of retreat; make one's decision irrevocable: She burned her bridges when she walked out angrily.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME brigge, OE brycg; c. D brug, G Brücke; akin to ON bryggja pier

Related forms:

bridge⋅a⋅ble, adjective

bridgeless, adjective

bridgelike, adjective

Synonyms:
21. traverse, cross, vault. 22. link, connect.

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bridge

2 [brij]

–noun Cards.

a game derived from whist in which one partnership plays to fulfill a certain declaration against an opposing partnership acting as defenders. Compare auction bridge, contract (def. 5).

Origin:
1885–90; earlier also sp. britch, biritch; of obscure orig; perh. < Turk bir one + üç three (one hand being exposed while the other three are concealed), but such a name for the game is not attested in Turkey or the Near East, from where it is alleged to have been introduced into Europe

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To bridge

bridge¹ (brĭj)

A structure spanning and providing passage over a gap or barrier, such as a river or roadway.
Something resembling or analogous to this structure in form or function: a land bridge between the continents; a bridge of understanding between two countries.
1. The upper bony ridge of the human nose.
2. The part of a pair of eyeglasses that rests against this ridge.
3. A thin, upright piece of wood in some stringed instruments that supports the strings above the soundboard.
4. A transitional passage connecting two subjects or movements.
5. A long stick with a notched plate at one end, used to steady the cue in billiards. Also called rest¹.
6. The hand used as a support to steady the cue.
7. Any of various instruments for measuring or comparing the characteristics, such as impedance or inductance, of a conductor.
8. An electrical shunt.
A fixed or removable replacement for one or several but not all of the natural teeth, usually anchored at each end to a natural tooth.
Music
1. A thin, upright piece of wood in some stringed instruments that supports the strings above the soundboard.
2. A transitional passage connecting two subjects or movements.
3. A long stick with a notched plate at one end, used to steady the cue in billiards. Also called rest¹.
4. The hand used as a support to steady the cue.
5. Any of various instruments for measuring or comparing the characteristics, such as impedance or inductance, of a conductor.
6. An electrical shunt.
Nautical A crosswise platform or enclosed area above the main deck of a ship from which the ship is controlled.
Games
1. A long stick with a notched plate at one end, used to steady the cue in billiards. Also called rest¹.
2. The hand used as a support to steady the cue.
3. Any of various instruments for measuring or comparing the characteristics, such as impedance or inductance, of a conductor.
4. An electrical shunt.
Electricity
1. Any of various instruments for measuring or comparing the characteristics, such as impedance or inductance, of a conductor.
2. An electrical shunt.
Chemistry An intramolecular connection that spans atoms or groups of atoms.

tr.v. bridged, bridg·ing, bridg·es

To build a bridge over.
To cross by or as if by a bridge.

[Middle English brigge, from Old English brycg; see bhrū- in Indo-European roots.]
bridge'a·ble adj.

bridge² (brĭj)

n. Any of several card games derived from whist, usually played by four people in two partnerships, in which trump is determined by bidding and the hand opposite the declarer is played as a dummy.

[From earlier biritch (influenced by bridge¹), from Russian birich, a call, from Old Russian birichĭ.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Bridge

Bridge\, n. [OE. brig, brigge, brug, brugge, AS. brycg, bricg; akin to Fries. bregge, D. brug, OHG. brucca, G. br["u]cke, Icel. bryggja pier, bridge, Sw. brygga, Dan. brygge, and prob. Icel. br[=u] bridge, Sw. & Dan. bro bridge, pavement, and possibly to E. brow.]

1. A structure, usually of wood, stone, brick, or iron, erected over a river or other water course, or over a chasm, railroad, etc., to make a passageway from one bank to the other.

2. Anything supported at the ends, which serves to keep some other thing from resting upon the object spanned, as in engraving, watchmaking, etc., or which forms a platform or staging over which something passes or is conveyed.

3. (Mus.) The small arch or bar at right angles to the strings of a violin, guitar, etc., serving of raise them and transmit their vibrations to the body of the instrument.

4. (Elec.) A device to measure the resistance of a wire or other conductor forming part of an electric circuit.

5. A low wall or vertical partition in the fire chamber of a furnace, for deflecting flame, etc.; -- usually called a bridge wall.

Aqueduct bridge. See Aqueduct.

Asses' bridge, Bascule bridge, Bateau bridge. See under Ass, Bascule, Bateau.

Bridge of a steamer (Naut.), a narrow platform across the deck, above the rail, for the convenience of the officer in charge of the ship; in paddlewheel vessels it connects the paddle boxes.

Bridge of the nose, the upper, bony part of the nose.

Cantalever bridge. See under Cantalever.

Draw bridge. See Drawbridge.

Flying bridge, a temporary bridge suspended or floating, as for the passage of armies; also, a floating structure connected by a cable with an anchor or pier up stream, and made to pass from bank to bank by the action of the current or other means.

Girder bridge or Truss bridge, a bridge formed by girders, or by trusses resting upon abutments or piers.

Lattice bridge, a bridge formed by lattice girders.

Pontoon bridge, Ponton bridge. See under Pontoon.

Skew bridge, a bridge built obliquely from bank to bank, as sometimes required in railway engineering.

Suspension bridge. See under Suspension.

Trestle bridge, a bridge formed of a series of short, simple girders resting on trestles.

Tubular bridge, a bridge in the form of a hollow trunk or rectangular tube, with cellular walls made of iron plates riveted together, as the Britannia bridge over the Menai Strait, and the Victoria bridge at Montreal.

Wheatstone's bridge (Elec.), a device for the measurement of resistances, so called because the balance between the resistances to be measured is indicated by the absence of a current in a certain wire forming a bridge or connection between two points of the apparatus; -- invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone.

Bridge

Bridge\ (br[i^]j), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bridged (br[i^]jd); p. pr. & vb. n. Bridging.]

1. To build a bridge or bridges on or over; as, to bridge a river.

Their simple engineering bridged with felled trees the streams which could not be forded. --Palfrey.

2. To open or make a passage, as by a bridge.

Xerxes . . . over Hellespont Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined. --Milton.

3. To find a way of getting over, as a difficulty; -- generally with over.

Bridge

Bridge\, n. A card game resembling whist.

Note: The trump, if any, is determined by the dealer or his partner, the value of each trick taken over six being: for "no trumps" 12, hearts 8, diamonds 6, clubs 4, spades 2. The opponents of the dealer can, after the trump is declared, double the value of the tricks, in which case the dealer or his partner can redouble, and so on. The dealer plays his partner's hand as a dummy. The side which first reaches or exceeds 30 points scored for tricks wins a game; the side which first wins two games wins a rubber. The total score for any side is the sum of the points scored for tricks, for rubbers (each of which counts 100), for honors (which follow a special schedule of value), and for slam, little slam, and chicane.

Language Translation for : bridge

Spanish: puente,

German: die Brücke,

Japanese: 橋

More Translations »

bridge (1)

"causeway over a ravine or river," O.E. brycge, from P.Gmc. *brugjo (cf. O.N. bryggja, Ger. Brücke), from PIE base *bhru "log, beam," hence "wooden causeway" (cf. Gaul. briva "bridge," O.C.S. bruvuno "beam," Serb. brv "footbridge"). For vowel evolution, see bury. Meaning "bony upper part of the nose" is from c.1450; of violins, etc., from 1607.

bridge (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 Turk. *bir-üç "one-three," since one hand is exposed and three are concealed.

Main Entry: bridge
Pronunciation: 'brij
Function: noun
1 a : the upper bony part of the nose b : the curved part of a pair ofglasses that rests upon this part of the nose
2 a : PONS b : a strand of protoplasm extendingbetween two cells c : a partial denture held in place by anchorage to adjacent teeth d : a connection (as an atom or group of atoms) that joins two different parts ofa molecule (as opposite sides of a ring) e : an area of physical continuity between two chromatids persisting during the later phases of mitosis and constituting a possible source ofsomatic genetic change

bridge (brĭj)
n.

An anatomical structure resembling a bridge or span.
The upper part of the ridge of the nose formed by the nasal bones.
A fixed or removable replacement for one or several but not all of the natural teeth, usually anchored at each end to a natural tooth.
One of the threads of protoplasm that appears to pass from one cell to another.

bridge (brĭj) Pronunciation Key

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A structure spanning and providing passage over a gap or barrier, such as a river or roadway.

BRIDGE
A component of ICES for civil engineers.
[Sammet 1969, p. 616].

bridge networking, hardware
A device which forwards traffic between network segments based on data link layer information. These segments would have a common network layer address.
Every network should only have one root bridge.
See also gateway, router.
(2001-03-04)

bridge

see burn one's bridges; cross that bridge when one comes to it; water over the dam (under the bridge).

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