Log in or Sign up
brig love

brig

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A two-masted sailing vessel, square-rigged on both masts.
  • noun A jail or prison on board a US Navy or Coast Guard vessel.
  • noun A jail or guardhouse, especially on the premises of a US military installation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An abbreviation of Brigade; Brigadier.
  • noun A vessel with two masts square-rigged, nearly like a ship's mainmast and foremast.
  • noun The place on board a man-of-war where prisoners are confined.
  • noun A bridge.
  • noun A utensil used in breweries and in dairies to set the strainer on.
  • noun A kind of iron set over a fire.
  • noun A ledge of rocks running out into the sea.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Scot. A bridge.
  • noun (Nav.) On a United States man-of-war, the prison or place of confinement for offenders.
  • noun (Naut.) A two-masted, square-rigged vessel.
  • noun a two-masted vessel square-rigged forward and schooner-rigged aft. See Illustration in Appendix.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A Scottish variation of bridge
  • noun Brigadier.
  • noun nautical A two-masted vessel, square-rigged on both foremast and mainmast
  • noun US A jail or guardhouse, especially in a naval military prison or jail on a ship, navy base, or (in fiction) spacecraft.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun two-masted sailing vessel square-rigged on both masts
  • noun a penal institution (especially on board a ship)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for brigantine. Senses 2 and 3, from the use of ships as prisons.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of brigadier

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Abbreviated from brigantine, from Italian brigantino; in sense “jail”, from the use of such ships as prisons.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word brig.

Examples

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

  • The talking point that the military cannot keep the prisoners securely in such facilities as Fort Leavenworth or the Charleston brig is simply laughable.

    Balkinization 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • reesetee commented on the word brig

    Originally brigantine

    March 7, 2007

  • yarb commented on the word brig

    She peered, one eyebrow cocked. "You're young but not too young. You're good-looking. Your voice is commanding and you have no reluctance about brigging me like this. You're exactly what a twerp fan would look like, sound like, act like. Okay; are you satisfied?"

    - P.K. Dick, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said.

    March 26, 2012