bridle
/ˈbɹaɪdəl/
bridle noun: the headgear with which a horse is directed and which carries a bit and reins.
Noun
bridle (plural bridles)
- The headgear with which a horse is directed and which carries a bit and reins.
- […] the horseman, who is the user of bridles and knows their use1961, J. A. Philip, “Mimesis in the Sophistês”, in Proceedings and Transactions of the American Philological Association, 92, p. 457
- A restraint; a curb; a check.
- Let wisdom put a bridle on them before they are grown head-strong and unruly1729, Isaac Watts, The Doctrine of the Passions explain'd and improv'd
- A length of line or cable attached to two parts of something to spread the force of a pull, as the rigging on a kite for attaching line.
- A mooring hawser.
- A piece in the interior of a gunlock which holds in place the tumbler, sear, etc.
- A gesture expressing pride or vanity.
Verb
bridle (third-person singular simple present bridles, present participle bridling, simple past and past participle bridled)
- To put a bridle on.
- He bridled her mouth with a silkweed twist.1835, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay
- To check, restrain, or control with, or as if with, a bridle; as in bridle your tongue.
- Savoy and Nice, the keys of Italy, and the citadel in her hands to bridle Switzerland, are in that consolidation.1795–1797, Edmund Burke, “(please specify |letter=1 to 4)”, in [Letters on a Regicide Peace], London: [Rivington]
- To show hostility or resentment.
- Immigrant-rights and religious organizations bridled at the plan to favor highly skilled workers over relatives. (Houston Chronicle, 6/8/2007)
- To hold up one's head proudly or affectedly.
bridle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
bridle in Hindi
- headgear for horse
- लगाम lagām
bridle in Tamil
- இழுப்பிடைக் கயிறு, நங்கூர வடம், கடிவாளம், மாற்றுத்தாள்
bridle in Urdu
- headgear for horse
- لَگام lagām
bridle in Bengali
- headgear for horse
- লাগাম lagam
More languagesFewer languages
- bridle in Telugu
- కళ్లెము kaḷlemu
- bridle in Malayalam
- കടിഞ്ഞാൺ kaṭiññāṇ
- bridle in Kannada
- ಕಡಿವಾಣ, ಲಗಾಮು, ಕೀೞ್, ಅಂಕೆ
- bridle in Punjabi
- ਲਗਾਮ lagām
- bridle in Gujarati
- લગામ lagām
- bridle in Sinhala
- කඩියාළම kaḍiyāḷama
- bridle in Pashto
- لگام legām
- bridle in Arabic
- لِجَام lijām, صُرْع ṣurʕ, عِنَان ʕinān
- bridle in Malay
- kekang
- bridle in Indonesian
- kekang
- bridle in Persian
- لگام legâm, لجام lejâm, عنان 'anân
- bridle in Thai
- ขลุม klǔm, บังเหียน bang-hǐian
- bridle in Vietnamese
- cương ngựa, cương
- bridle in Myanmar
- ဇက်ခွံ့ jakhkwam.
Examples of bridle in a sentence
- A horse slips his bridle; a dog slips his collar.
- I bridled and bristled, nettled and rankled, then drinkled and drankled some more.
- (vii) The manifer (reinforcing bridle gauntlet for the tilt) was examined in cross-section.
Synonyms of bridle
Forms of bridle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bridles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bridles |
| present participle | bridling |
| past participle | bridled |
| past | bridled |
Origin of bridle
From Middle English bridel, from Old English brīdel, from Proto-West Germanic *brigdil, from Proto-Germanic *brigdilaz (“strap, rein”), equivalent to braid + -le.
Words formed from bridle
Phrases with bridle
Words that rhyme with bridle
Questions about bridle
- What does bridle mean?
- Bridle means the headgear with which a horse is directed and which carries a bit and reins.
- What is bridle in Hindi?
- Bridle in Hindi is लगाम (lagām). See Bridle meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is bridle?
- Bridle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce bridle?
- Bridle is pronounced /ˈbɹaɪdəl/.
- What is the plural of bridle?
- The plural of bridle is bridles.
Words near bridle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bridle (page history and authors); bridle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bridle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); කඩියාළම (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bridle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bridle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bridle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.