Bridle
['braɪd(ə)l] or ['braɪdl]
Definition
(noun.) the act of restraining power or action or limiting excess; 'his common sense is a bridle to his quick temper'.
(noun.) headgear for a horse; includes a headstall and bit and reins to give the rider or driver control.
(verb.) respond to the reins, as of horses.
(verb.) put a bridle on; 'bridle horses'.
(verb.) anger or take offense; 'She bridled at his suggestion to elope'.
Edited by Georgina--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The head gear with which a horse is governed and restrained, consisting of a headstall, a bit, and reins, with other appendages.
(n.) A restraint; a curb; a check.
(n.) The piece in the interior of a gun lock, which holds in place the tumbler, sear, etc.
(n.) A span of rope, line, or chain made fast as both ends, so that another rope, line, or chain may be attached to its middle.
(n.) A mooring hawser.
(v. t.) To put a bridle upon; to equip with a bridle; as, to bridle a horse.
(v. t.) To restrain, guide, or govern, with, or as with, a bridle; to check, curb, or control; as, to bridle the passions; to bridle a muse.
(v. i.) To hold up the head, and draw in the chin, as an expression of pride, scorn, or resentment; to assume a lofty manner; -- usually with up.
Typed by Corinne
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Restraint, curb, check.
v. a. Restrain, control, check, curb, control, govern.
Typist: Martha
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Curb, restrain, govern, control, master, moderate, compress
ANT:Loosen, liberate, relax, vent, discharge
Inputed by Andre
Definition
n. the apparatus on a horse's head by which it is controlled: any curb or restraint: a gesture expressing pride or vanity.—v.t. to put on or manage by a bridle: to check or restrain.—v.i. to hold up the head proudly or affectedly.—ns. Brī′dle-hand the hand which holds the bridle in riding—the left hand; Brī′dle-path a path or way for horsemen; Brī′dler one who governs or restrains as by a bridle; Bri′dle-rein the strap of a bridle.—To bridle up (at something) to take something amiss.
Checked by Felicia
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of a bridle, denotes you will engage in some enterprise which will afford much worry, but will eventually terminate in pleasure and gain. If it is old or broken you will have difficulties to encounter, and the probabilities are that you will go down before them. A blind bridle signifies you will be deceived by some wily enemy, or some woman will entangle you in an intrigue.
Checker: Lyman
Examples
- I'll crack _my_ whip about their ear'n, afore they bring it to that, though, said Hiram, while Mr. Solomon, shaking his bridle, moved onward. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Lord Worcester took the opportunity to give Sophia a few instructions about holding her whip and bridle. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- His bridle is missing, so that Simpson must have put this on. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Try to get hold of my horse's bridle and lead him to me: you are not afraid? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- As the wet twilight deepened, I stopped in a solitary bridle-path, which I had been pursuing an hour or more. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- The escorted governed his own horse, but a loose line was attached to his bridle, the end of which one of the patriots kept girded round his wrist. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- They are strangers to bridle or saddle; they live in great amity with me and friendship to each other. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- There were no bridles--nothing but a single rope, tied to the bit. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Food, bits and bridles, noises, vehicles, are used to direct the ways in which the natural or instinctive responses of horses occur. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But the frightened valet had got down in a hurry, and there were twenty hands at the horses' bridles. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Amy bridled up at this insult, and determined to find out the secret, if she teased for an hour. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- At this consolatory reflection, Mrs. Cluppins bridled up, and smiled at Mrs. Sanders, who smiled back again. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- To my checked, bridled, disciplined expectation, it seemed very kind: to my longing and famished thought it seemed, perhaps, kinder than it was. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- As he finished mending the pens, a horse, saddled and bridled, was brought up to the garden-gate. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Miss Eliza bridled, muttered something about our sex's envy, and declared that she had proposed leaving me herself. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- On the contrary, it appeared that she had proposed to herself the task of hiding that feeling, and bridling her lover's ardour. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- At last, biting her thin lips, and bridling up, she said-- 'It can't be. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- And pray, sir, said the eldest lady bridling, do we look like people who would bemean ourselves by going into the pit? Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
Inputed by Camille