bridge n also brudge, brudgeway [phonetics unavailable]. DC ~ n 2 Nfld (1771-) for sense 1; OED sb 3 a 'gangway' obs for sense 2; EDD sb 3 'platform' Nfld for sense 4; JOYCE 98: brudge.
   1 A stretch of ice forming a causeway across a river, harbour or strait.
   [1771] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 182 The river was frozen over in bridges, from that place to the Narrows, but the ice was firm and good all the way home from thence. [1772] ibid i, 226 They were obliged to launch the punt across a bridge of ice in the harbour. 1916 DUNCAN 262 Archie took one step—and dropped, crashing, with a section of the bridge, which momentarily floated his weight. 1933 MERRICK 207 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. 1934 LOUNSBURY 11-12 Although Cabot Strait is never completely frozen over it is often jammed with ice from the gulf to such an extent that in early spring a blockade extends from St Paul Island to Cape Ray. This blockade, known as 'the Bridge,' sometimes lasts for three weeks, holds up vessels anxious to enter the gulf, and causes wrecks on the Newfoundland coast.
   2 A wooden gangway connecting the waterfront stores, sheds, 'flakes,' etc, forming 'fishing prernises.'
   [1778] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 354 The shoremen made a bridge up the hill between the stage and the flakes. 1931 Nfld Magazine & Advertiser 22 A few stakes had been driven in pairs at this point and a couple of planks laid on cross-sticks nailed to the flakes. As Welter approached the 'brudge' he noticed a young woman crossing the planks. P 148-61 Brudge: wooden walkway. P 148-66 Brudgeway: ramp leading to stage. 1977 Them Days ii (3), p. 23 At Battle Harbour you could hardly put your foot on a rock there was so many bridges and things. 1979 TIZZARD 92 To cross the flake from the stage bridge to the wharf you walked on two pieces of two by eight inch plank placed side by side, thus there was a walkway of sixteen inches.
   3 Part of the mechanism of an animal trap.
   [1770] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 52 In the afternoon I made twenty-four btidges and tongues for deathfalls, and caught two jays on the porch, with birdlime. 1792 ibid Gloss i, ix Bridge of a trap. A plate of iron in the centre of a trap for the animal to tread on, which then falling down, sets the jaws [of the trap] at liberty.
   4 (a) A small, uncovered platform at the door of a house to which the steps lead; (b) a similar structure at the entrance to other types of building, sometimes at more than one level.
   1896 J A Folklore ix, 26 ~ pronounced brudge, is the word commonly used to denote a platform. T 139-65 They was over there on the shop brudge, and he come out and drove them off the brudge, the pop-gutted bugger. T 141/65-65² There was no bridge on [his] door. The steps went right up to the threshold o' the porch. M 69-2 The bridge is a wooden platform about 4 ft wide, with a rail around the outside, attached to the outside of the house. 1972 MURRAY 184 Every house had a 'bridge,' often two, one at the front door and one at the back, but they varied from house to house. A bridge might mean a wooden platform, extending from the doorway and ascended by a step or two, or it might simply be steps leading up to the door. Some of the 'better' homes had 'galleries' (verandas) which ran the full width of the front of the house. 1979 TIZZARD 83 I came from school at four o'clock ... to help him put the barrels in the under store. He would have a great number lined up on the top store bridge. He would pass them down to me and I would tier them up in the under store. Ibid 271 When the dishes were washed she always threw the dishwater out over the railing that extended around the verandah, or as we always called it, the bridge.
   5 Comb bridge master: officer aboard a sealing vessel who transmits directions for navigating the ice floes from the 'scunner' at the masthead to helmsman.
   1924 ENGLAND 40 Aft was a storeroom where slept the after cooks and storekeeper; also the hellhole that bunked the carpenter, bosun, a bridge master,' a scunner, the pantry steward and—for a while—myself. [1928] 1944 LAWTON & DEVINE 75 Skipper Tom Doyle, who goes [with] Capt W.C. Winsor in the S.S. Ungava as Bridge-Master to the Seal Fishery this Spring, has probably a longer sealing record than any man going to the ice this Spring. 1928 Nfld Qtly Oct, p. 31 He was spy master and I was bridge master. T 401/2-67 The bridge master was on the bridge [and] he sung out, 'Go astern!'

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