▪ I. bride, n.1
(braɪd)
Forms: 1 br{yacu}d, 2–4 (Kentish) brēd(e, 2–3 (s.w.) brude(ü), 3 brīd, 3–4 bryd, (4 bruyd), 4–6 bryde, 4– bride.
[Common Teut.: OE. br{yacu}d str. fem. = OS. brûd (MLG. brûd, MDu. bruut -de, Du. bruid), OHG., MHG. brût (mod.G. braut), ON. br{uacu}ðr (Sw. Du. brud, Goth. brûþs:—OTeut. *brûđi-z; the general sense is ‘bride’, but in Gothic, though this sense is also evidenced by the compound brûþfaþs ‘bridegroom’ (faþs = Gr. πόσις for *πότις, Skr. patis ‘lord’), the only sense actually occurring is ‘daughter-in-law’; the med.L. brūta, OF. bruy, F. bru, Rumansch brütt, from OHG., have also only the sense ‘daughter-in-law’: cf. Gr. νυµϕή ‘daughter-in-law’ and ‘bride’. Not known outside Teutonic; though some would identify with it Frūtis an Italian name of ‘Venus mater’. Radical sense uncertain: possibly the verb root brū̆- ‘to cook, brew, make broth’, a duty of a daughter-in-law in the primitive family.]
I. As separate word.
1. a. A woman at her marriage; a woman just about to be married or very recently married.
The term is particularly applied on the day of marriage and during the ‘honeymoon’, but is frequently used from the proclamation of the banns, or other public announcement of the coming marriage. In the parliamentary debate on Prince Leopold's allowance, Mr. Gladstone, being criticized for speaking of the Princess Helen as the ‘bride’, said he believed that colloquially a lady when engaged was often called a ‘bride’. This was met with ‘Hear! hear!’ from some, and ‘No! no!’ from others. Probably ‘bride elect’ would have satisfied critics.
| c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 171, Sponsa, bryd. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxv. 1 And ferdon onᵹen þone bryd-guman and þa bryde. c 1160 Hatton G. ibid., Onȝen þanne bred-gumen and þare brede. c 1200 Ormin 15337 Crisstess hird..Iss crisstess brid onn erþe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 164 Nefde he brude ibrouht hom? a 1300 Havelok 2131 Hauelok lay on his lift side, In his armes his brihte bride. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2622 The nyght is come the bryd shal go to bedde. c 1450 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 691, Hec domiduca, a bryde. 1535 Coverdale 1 Macc. ix. 37, & brought y⊇ bryde from Madaba with greate pompe. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. ii. 11 Ere we may thinke her ripe to be a Bride. 1671 Milton Samson 320 To seek in marriage that fallacious bride. 1858 Mackay Three Flowers, Thus I won my blushing bride One happy summer-day. 1884 Pall Mall G. 13 Feb. 8/2 The bride..wore a dress of white satin embroidered with pearls. |
| fig. 1611 Bible Rev. xxi. 9, I will shew thee the Bride, the Lambes wife. a 1835 Mrs. Hemans Death-d. Korner, The youth went down to a hero's grave, With the sword, his bride. a 1850 Eliza Cook Rover's Song, The Ocean's my home, and my bark is my bride. |
b. A girl, woman,
esp. a girl-friend.
slang.| 1935 G. Ingram Cockney Cavalcade ix. 146 ‘I must git a bride too,’ announced Patsy... Patsy, like most of his class, was eager to get a girl. 1964 Listener 31 Dec. 1053/2 This load of squaddies..ain't got any brides with them. |
† 2. In 15th and 16th c. denoting also a bridegroom;
= spouse.
Obs. Cf. bride-couple in 6.
| c 1440 Promp Parv. 50 Bryde, infra in spowse, sponsus, sponsa. 1483 Cath. Angl. 43 A Bride; sponsa, sponsus vir eius. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. (1641) 211/2 Sweet Daughter dear..Isis blesse thee and thy Bride With golden fruit. Ibid. ii. iv. ii. 213/1 Art thou not Shee, that with a chaste-sweet flame Did'st both our Brides' hearts into one heart frame? |
† 3. Occas. found
= burd ‘lady, maiden’, etc.; but
perh. only by confusion.
Thus in the
quot. from
Cursor M. the later versions have
bride,
bruyd, for the
birde (
= burd) of the
Cotton MS.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7131 Vn-to þat birde [Fairf. bride, Trin. bruyd]..Sampson al þe soth hir tald. |
4. A collector's name for the Dark Crimson Underwing moth (
Catocala sponsa).
| 1860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 26 Ha! the lovely ‘bride’! If you can net her, you have a beauty. |
II. In combination.
Bride- had originally the force of ‘bridal, wedding’ (the primitive marriage being essentially the acquisition of a
bride): so in all the
OE. compounds of
br{yacu}d-. Only in modern combinations, as
bride-like,
brideless, is
bride used in sense 1.
5. Obvious comb.
a. = ‘bridal, wedding’, as
bride-banquet,
bride-barn,
bride-bell,
bride-chamber,
bride-clothes,
bride-day,
bride-kiss,
bride-people,
bride-ring,
bride-sheet,
bride-sleep,
bride-song,
bride-wife.
b. = ‘bride’, as
bride-lifter,
bride-lifting,
bride-money;
brideless,
bride-like,
bride-widowing adjs.; also in Social Anthropology, as
bride-abduction,
bride-capture,
bride-purchase,
bride-service,
bride-wealth.
| 1633 Ford 'Tis Pity iv. i, That marriage seldom's good, Where the *bride-banquet so begins in blood. |
| 1652 Brome Jov. Crew iv. ii. 424 We are mist within the *Bride-Barn among the Revell rout. |
| 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 29 The merry *bride-bell Rings clear through the greenwood. |
| 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 46 Why glads it thee, that a *bride-day be By a word of woe defiled. |
| c 1380 Wyclif De Dot. Eccl. Sel. Wks. III. 440 Ȝif we have þenne *bryde-cloþis, we shal for evere be dampned. |
| 1830 Carlyle Richter Misc. (1857) II. 150 Caroline..bestowed on him the *bride-kiss of her own accord. |
| 1816 Jane Austen Emma I. i. 3 The wedding over and the *bride-people gone, her father and herself were left to dine together. |
| 1851 Kingsley Yeast xiii. 246 Where is your *bride-ring, my fair maid? |
| 1930 T. S. Eliot tr. St.-J. Perse's Anabasis 63 Loud acclamations..for the publication of the *bride-sheets! |
| 1871 Rossetti Eden Bower xvii, That he may..curse the day when the *bride-sleep took him. |
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xxiv. 372 For *Bridesongs, they bee not wanting. 1629 Ford Lover's Mel. v. i, Sorrows are chang'd to bride-songs. |
| 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Epist. 51 Ne didst thou cause a marriage bed for *bridewife to be drest. |
| 1937 R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory v. 46 There is nothing to show that it regularly accompanies *bride-abduction. |
| 1878 E. B. Tylor Early Hist. Mankind (ed. 3) x. 287 The import of the Spartan marriage, which he calls the ‘form of capture’, as indicating previous habit of *bride-capture. 1937 C. M. Arensberg Irish Countryman iii. 106 A last remnant of a primeval bride-capture. |
| 1884 Tennyson Becket 170 The *brideless Becket is thy King and mine. |
| 1865 M{supc}Lennan Prim. Marriage 33 A young fellow called the *bride-lifter lifts the bride. |
| 1871 Tylor Prim. Cult. I. 65 *‘Bridelifting’ has been noticed as one of the regular games of the little native boys and girls. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 117, I never saw any thing so delicate and *bride-like as she looked in her white gown. |
| 1926 D. H. Lawrence David x. 71 Is Merab not worth the *bride-money? |
| 1920 R. H. Lowie Primitive Society vii. 178 The functionally related customs of clear-cut *bride-purchase and patrilocal residence. |
| 1937 ― Hist. Ethnol. Theory xiii. 240 Kirchhoff has unearthed significant South American relations: matrilocal residence, *bride-service. |
| 1931 E. E. Evans-Pritchard in Man Mar. 36 There has been a considerable amount of discussion..about an alternative expression for ‘bride-price’... I may be excused for putting forward the term *‘bride-wealth’. 1951 R. Anthrop. Inst. Notes & Queries ii. iv. 116 Bride-price, bride-wealth, marriage payment, are terms used for the goods, gifts or payments transferred by the bridegroom or his family to the bride or her family on the occasion of marriage. |
| 1832 L. Hunt Poems 173 The *bride-widowing sword. |
6. Special comb.:
† bride-belt, the zone or belt worn by a virgin;
† bride-bowl = bride-cup;
bride-bush, a bush hung out at the (village) alehouse in honour of a wedding;
† bride-couple, a newly-wedded pair;
bride-door, the door of the
bridehouse;
bride-knot, a wedding favour;
† bride-leader, the precursor of the later bride-man, who brought the bride to the bridegroom;
† bride-mother, one who acts the part of mother at weddings in some countries;
bride-price, money paid for a bride;
† bride-squire = brideman;
bride-stake, a pole set up to dance round at a wedding;
bride-weed, a bride's dress or veil;
bride-wort, Meadow-sweet (
Spiræa Ulmaria); also, American Meadow-sweet (
S. salicifolia). Also
bride-ale, bride-woman,
q.v.| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas (1608) 376 Thou wed a wife, another 'fore thy face Shall lose her *bride-belt. |
| 1630 B. Jonson New Inn Argt., Lord Beaufort..calls for his bed and *bride-bowl to be made ready. |
| 1654 Gayton Fest. Notes ii. iv. 50 His *Bride-bush, which to that purpose is very good, if a thorne or two were pluckt out of it. |
| 1635 J. Hayward Banish'd Virg. 172 Having lodg'd the *bride-couple a-bed. |
| 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss. s.v. Bride-door, To run ‘for the *bride-door’; the race for the bride's gift by young men, who wait at the church-door till the marriage ceremony is over. The prize is usually a ribbon, which is worn for the day in the hat of the winner. |
| 1694 Ladies Dict. (N.), Nor was he slow in furnishing the *bride-knots and favours. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Bryde leader, pronubus. |
| 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 202 The Apostles as the *brideleaders..haue brought the Church to our Sauiour, a chaste virgin. |
| 1712 Lond. Gaz. No. 4987/1 The Empress Dowager with the Vice-Admiral's Lady, were the *Bride-Mothers. |
| 1876 Digby Real Prop. iii. i. §4. 113 By early Teutonic custom..the *bride-price, or price paid by the intending husband to the family of the bride. 1885 Pall Mall G. 7 Feb. 5/1 When the bride price has been paid, the girl runs away and hides..and his friend (compare our ‘best man’) brings her home by force. |
| 1633 B. Jonson Love's Welc., The two *bride-squires..were in two yellow leather doublets. |
| 1854 S. Dobell Balder xxiii. 123 The mist is as a *brideweed on the moon. |
| 1863 Prior Plant-n., *Bridewort, from its resemblance to the white feathers worn by brides. |
▪ II. bride, n.2 (
braɪd)
[a. F. bride bridle, bonnet-string = Pr. and Sp. brida, from Teutonic: cf. OHG. brîdel: see bridle.] † 1. A bridle, rein. Also
fig. Obs.| c 1300 K. Alis. 7627 How love heom ladde by strong bride. a 1300 K. Horn 772 Berild..tok him bi þe bride. |
2. The delicate net-work which connects the patterns in lace; also, a bonnet-string.
| 1869 Latest News 3 Oct. 5 One [bonnet]..is very pretty made of velvet and black lace; black or white tulle brides. 1883 Mag. of Art Dec 67/2 The delicate beauty of its white knots lightly held together by cobwebby ‘brides’. |
3. Surg. Membranaceous filaments found in the centre of abscesses or in deep wounds which prevent the escape of pus, or cause morbid adherence.
| 1845 Encycl. Metrop., VII. 739 When the maturation [of the pustule in small-pox] is complete the ‘bride’..ruptures. |
▪ III. † bride, v.1 ?
Obs. (
braɪd)
[f. bride n.1] 1. intr. To play or act the bride. (Also with
it.)
| 1530 Palsgr. 465/2 This mayde brideth very well, ceste pucelle fait lespousée tresbien. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 253 Shall sweet Bianca practise how to bride it? a 1652 Brome Eng. Moor i. iii, Would you have brided it so lumpishly With your spruce younker? |
2. trans. To wed, marry. Also
absol.| 1601 Death Earl Huntington i. ii. in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 231 [He] will not bed, forsooth, before he bride. c 1612 Fletcher Two Noble Kinsmen (L.), I knew a man..who A lass of fourteen brided. a 1658 Cleveland Cl. Vindiciæ (1677) 92 This Wench he fain would have Brided. |
▪ IV. † bride, v.2 Obs. rare.
[perh. f. bride n.2: cf. bridle v.] intr. To mince, practise affectedly.
| 1530 Palsgr. 951 To bride, nidger [Cotgr. Niger, to trifle, play the fop or nidget]. 1593 Nashe Foure Lett. Confut. 80 He brides it and simpers it out a crie. 1598 Florio, Cincischiare, to minse it or bride it in eating or speaking. |