BRIDGE, noun

1. Any structure of wood, stone, brick, or iron, raised over a river, pond, or lake, for the passage of men and other animals. Among rude nations, bridges are sometimes formed of other materials; and sometimes they are formed of boats, or logs of wood lying on the water, fastened together, covered with planks, and called floating bridges. A bridge over a marsh is made of logs or other materials laid upon the surface of the earth.

Pendent or hanging bridges are not supported by posts, but by the peculiar structure of the frame, resting only on the abutments.

A draw bridge is one which is made with hinges, and may be raised or opened. Such bridges are constructed in fortifications, to hinder the passage of a ditch or moat; and over rivers, that the passage of vessels need not be interrupted.

A flying bridge is made of pontoons, light boats, hollow beams, empty casks or the like. They are made, as occasion requires, for the passage of armies.

A flying bridge is also constructed in such a manner as to move from one side of a river to the other, being made fast in the middle of the river by a cable and an anchor.

1. The upper part of the nose.

2. The part of a stringed instrument of music, over which the strings are stretched, and by which they are raised.

3. In gunnery, the two pieces of timber which go between the two transoms of a gun-carriage.

BRIDGE, verb transitive To build a bridge or bridges over; as, to bridge a river.

1. To erect bridges on; to make a passage by a bridge or bridges.