Chapter Breviary to Bridport of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Brickdusts The 53rd Foot; so called from the brickdust-red colour of their facings. Also called Five- and-thre'pennies, a play on the number and daily pay of the ensigns.
   Now called the 1st battalion of the “King's Shropshire Light Infantry.” The 2nd battalion is the old 85th.

Brick-tea The inferior leaves of the tea-plant mixed with sheep's blood and pressed into cubes; the ordinary drink of the common people south of Moscow.

“The Tartars swill a horrible gruel, thick and slab, of brick-tea, suet, salt, pepper, and sugar, boiled in a chaldron (sic).”- The Daily Telegraph, Friday, October 16th, 1891.

Bride The bridal wreath is a relic of the corona nuptialis used by the Greeks and Romans to indicate triumph.

Bride Cake A relic of the Roman Confarreatio, a mode of marriage practised by the highest class in Rome. It was performed before ten witnesses by the Pontifex Maximus, and the contracting parties mutually partook of a cake made of salt, water, and flour (far ) Only those born in such wedlock were eligible for the high sacred offices.

Bride or Wedding Favours represent the true lover's knot, and symbolise union.

Bride of Abydos Zuleika, daughter of Giaffir, Pacha of Abydos. As she was never wed, she should be called the affianced or betrothed. (Byron. )

Bride of Lammermoor Lucy Ashton. (Scott: Bride of Lammermoor. )

Bride of the Sea Venice; so called from the ancient ceremony of the Doge, who threw a ring into the Adriatic, saying, “We wed thee, O sea, in token of perpetual domination.”

Bridegroom is the old Dutch gom (a young man). Thus, Groom of the Stole is the young man over the wardrobe. Groom, an ostler, is quite another word, being the Persian garma (a keeper of horses), unless, indeed, it is a contracted form of stable-groom (stable-boy). The Anglo Saxon Bryd-guma (guma = man) confused with groom, a lad.

Bridegroom's Men In the Roman marriage by confarreatio, the bride was led to the Pontifex Maximus by bachelors, but was conducted home by married men. Polydore Virgil says that a married man preceded the bride on her return, bearing a vessel of gold and silver. (See Bride Cake .)

Bridewell The city Bridewell, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, was built over a holy well of medical water, called St. Bride's Well, where was founded a hospital for the poor. After the Reformation, Edward VI. chartered this hospital to the city. Christ Church was given to the education of the young; St. Thomas's Hospital to the cure of the sick; and Bridewell was made a penitentiary for unruly apprentices and vagrants.

Bridge of Gold According to a German tradition, Charlemagne's spirit crosses the Rhine on a golden bridge at Bingen, in seasons of plenty, to bless the vineyards and cornfields.

“Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold.”
Longfellow: Autumn

   Made a bridge of gold for him; i.e. enabling a man to retreat from a false position without loss of dignity.

Bridge of Jehennam (See Serat. )

Bridge of Sighs which connects the palace of the Doge with the state prisons of Venice. Over this bridge the state prisoners were conveyed from the judgment-hall to the place of execution.

“I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs,
A palace and a prison on each hand.”
Byron: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, iv. 1:

    Waterloo Bridge, in London, used, some years ago, when suicides were frequent there, to be called The Bridge of Sighs.