bridle

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Another moment and she must have broken loose, or dragged the gate upon her--more likely the latter, for the bridle was a new one with broad reins--when some frightful injury would in all probability have been the consequence to herself.

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Definitions (38)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. noun A harness, consisting of a headstall, bit, and reins, fitted about a horse's head and used to restrain or guide the animal.
  2. noun A curb or check: put a bridle on spending.
  3. noun Nautical A span of chain, wire, or rope that can be secured at both ends to an object and slung from its center point.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • His saddle was a cushioned McClellan, with spangled breast-strap and plump saddle-bags, and his bridle was adorned with a bright curb bit and twilled reins. —  Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, and His Romaunt Abroad During the War
  • The trappings of her palfrey were of finest embroidery, her bridle was a chain of gold From the palfrey's mane hung little silver bells, nine-and-fifty little silver bells. —  Stories from the Ballads Told to the Children
  • But there is life in the convictions which nerve men to fight an uphill fight, and there is something in the fire and spirit of these militant Catholics of France which reminds one of Prudentius, the Pindar of Christian Spain, celebrating fifteen centuries ago the believers who upheld so manfully the rights of conscience against prćtors and prefects bent on converting them to the beauty of 'moral unity'--_quod princeps colit ut colamus omnes When two men ride on a horse the man who holds the bridle is the master, and the Radicals hold the bridle of the French Government. —  France and the Republic A Record of Things Seen and Learned in the French Provinces During the 'Centennial' Year 1889
  • He had fastened his belt round the gate-post and was using it as a bridle, his bare knees gripped the wooden bar under him, and his little brass-tipped heels flashed in the sun like spurs. —  Secret Bread
  • In his left hand he seized the lines, that is, the bridle-reins of his horses for restraining his steeds before performing his charioteering 1-1] Eg. —  The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge
 

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This word has been looked up 163 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

rein ·  halter ·  harness ·  saddle ·  stirrup ·  mane ·  quirt ·  hooves ·  spur ·  trappings ·  leash ·  girth

Used in the same contextWord Family

bridle:   bridled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English bridel, from Old English brīdel.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English bridel, from Anglo-Saxon brīdel, also brīdels = OFries. brīdel = Middle Dutch breydel, Dutch breidel = Middle Low German Low German breidel = Old High German brīdel, britel, brittil, priddil, prittil, Middle High German brīdel, britel (later Old French bridel = Italian pre della, a bridle, also in short form, Provencal Spanish Portuguese brida = Old French and F. bride, a bridle, later English bride, q. v.), German breidel, also britel, brittel; root unknown.
  2. from ME. bridlen, bridelen, from Anglo-Saxon gebrīdlian (= MD. breydelen, Dutch breidelen = Old High German brittilōn, MHG. briteln, pritteln, German breidelen, briteln, britteln), bridle, restrain, from brīdel, bridle.
 

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/ˈbraɪdl/
by American Heritage

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