a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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noun

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

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

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

a bridge house or bridge superstructure.

a raised walkway running fore-and-aft.

Anatomy. the ridge or upper line of the nose.

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

EXPAND

Music.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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 cock¹ (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.

COLLAPSE

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.

(especially 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:
before 1000; Middle English brigge, Old English brycg; cognate with Dutch brug, German Brücke; akin to Old Norse bryggja pier

Related forms

bridge·a·ble, adjective

bridge·less, adjective

bridge·like, adjective

un·bridge·a·ble, adjective

un·bridged, adjective

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

Link To bridging

Collins

World English Dictionary

bridging (ˈbrɪdʒɪŋ)

—n
1.	one or more timber struts fixed between floor or roof joists to stiffen the construction and distribute the loads
2.	mountaineering a technique for climbing a wide chimney by pressing left hand and foot against one side of it and right hand and foot against the other side
3.	rugby Union an illegal move in which a player leans down and forward onto the body of a prone player in a ruck, thereby preventing opposing players from winning the ball by fair rucking

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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

bridge

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,"

EXPAND

since one hand is exposed and three are concealed. The game also was known early as Russian whist (attested in English from 1839).

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

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.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

bridge