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.