Brig

//bɹɪɡ// name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A two-masted vessel, square-rigged on both foremast and mainmast
  2. 2
    Bridge. Northern-England, Northern-Ireland, Scotland

    "Now do thy speedy utmost, Meg, / And win the key-stane of the brig;"

  3. 3
    Brigadier.
  4. 4
    a penal institution (especially on board a ship) wordnet
  5. 5
    A jail or guardhouse, especially in a naval military prison or jail on a ship, navy base, or (in fiction) spacecraft. US
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  1. 6
    two-masted sailing vessel square-rigged on both masts wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To merely pretend to be occupied, to lollygag. US, dated, slang
  2. 2
    To jail, to confine into the guardhouse. US, dated, slang
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A district in Valais canton, Switzerland.
  2. 2
    A town in Brig-Glis municipality, Valais canton, Switzerland.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bastillebinblack holeborstalborstal institutionbridewell

Example

More examples

"In the act of offering up his last prayer ere he made up his mind to float and be eaten, he saw a man look over the quarter of the brig : he raised both his hands ; he jumped himself up in the water, and, by the singularity of his motions fortunately attracted notice."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Abbreviated from brigantine, from Italian brigantino; in sense “jail”, from the use of such ships as prisons.

Etymology 2

From Scots brig, from Old Norse bryggja, from Proto-Germanic *brugjǭ. Doublet of bridge.

Etymology 3

Clipping of brigadier.

Related phrases

Brig o' Turkbrig ratgun brighermaphrodite brigsquare rigged

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.