DCHP-1 Online
bridge 
1 n. a bridge across a river, bay, etc., formed by the natural freezing of the water and used as a means of crossing from one shore to the other.
See also: ice-bridge (def. 1a)
- 1769 (1931) Before I saw the breaking up of the vast body of ice, which forms what is here called the bridge, from Quebec to Point Levi, I imagined there could he nothing in it worth attention. . . .
- 1849 At Kingston . . . the "Bridge of Ice," over the lower part of Lake Ontario, carries him to the French Creek, or Sackett's Harbour. . .
2 n. Nfld a formation of thick ice over a river, bay, etc., the surroundings being rotten, ice or water.
See also: rotten
- 1771 (1792) We landed . . . and walked home; for the river was frozen over in bridges. . . .
- 1916 Archie took one step--and dropped, crashing, with a section of the bridge, which momentarily floated his weight.
- 1933 By bending close to the ice we could follow their track. The bridge wound. Sometimes we felt that we were surrounded by the black sliding water.
3 n. See corduroy bridge.
- 1769 (1931) Before I saw the breaking up of the vast body of ice, which forms what is here called the bridge, from Quebec to Point Levi, I imagined there could he nothing in it worth attention. . . .