brig
/bɹɪɡ/
brig noun: a two-masted vessel, square-rigged on both foremast and mainmast.
Noun (1)
brig (plural brigs)
- A two-masted vessel, square-rigged on both foremast and mainmast.
- Dorey harbour is in a fine bay, at one extremity of which an elevated point juts out, and, with two or three small islands, forms a sheltered anchorage. The only vessel it contained when we arrived was a Dutch brig, laden with coals for the use of a war-steamer, which was expected daily, on an...1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 304
- A jail or guardhouse, especially in a naval military prison or jail on a ship, navy base, or (in fiction) spacecraft.
Verb
brig (third-person singular simple present brigs, present participle brigging, simple past and past participle brigged)
- To merely pretend to be occupied, to lollygag.
- To jail, to confine into the guardhouse.
Noun (2)
brig (plural brigs)
- Bridge.
- Now do thy speedy utmost, Meg, / And win the key-stane of the brig;1790, Robert Burns, Tam o' Shanter
Noun (3)
brig (plural brigs)
Proper noun capitalized: Brig
Brig
- A district in Valais canton, Switzerland.
- A town in Brig-Glis municipality, Valais canton, Switzerland.
- Synonyms:
- Brigue
brig meaning in Marathi, Bengali and Odia
brig in Marathi
- ब्रिगे
brig in Bengali
- ব্রিগে
brig in Odia
- ବ୍ରିଗ
Synonyms of brig
Forms of brig
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | brigs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | brigs |
| present participle | brigging |
| past participle | brigged |
| past | brigged |
Origin of brig
Abbreviated from brigantine, from Italian brigantino; in sense “jail”, from the use of such ships as prisons.
From Scots brig, from Old Norse bryggja, from Proto-Germanic *brugjǭ. Doublet of bridge.
Clipping of brigadier.
Words formed from brig
Phrases with brig
Words that rhyme with brig
Questions about brig
- What does brig mean?
- Brig means a two-masted vessel, square-rigged on both foremast and mainmast.
- What is brig in Marathi?
- Brig in Marathi is ब्रिगे. See Brig meaning in Marathi.
- What part of speech is brig?
- Brig can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce brig?
- Brig is pronounced /bɹɪɡ/.
- What is the plural of brig?
- The plural of brig is brigs.
Words near brig in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: brig (page history and authors); Brig (page history and authors); brig (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); brig (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); brig (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-brig.ogg.
Cite this entry: “brig.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brig. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.