Obs. Forms: 4 bregge, breigge, 4–5 brigge, 6 brydge. [aphet. form of abregge, ABRIDGE, a. F. abréger to shorten.] trans. To abridge, shorten, lessen; to curtail. Also absol.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 247. Noþeles he wild haf briggid, þe fals leue & erroure.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 407. It is peril to adde or to bregge fro Cristis wordis. Ibid. (1382), Mark xiii. 20. No but the Lord hadde breiggid [1388 abredgide] tho dayes.
c. 1430–40. Occleve, MS. Soc. Antiq., 134 f. 251 a. Sorow and care Byreven man his helpe, And his dayes briggen.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 97. An aduersary … euer brydgynge & lettyng the in euery thynge.
Hence † Bridgement, an abridgement, epitome; † Bridger, an abridger or epitomizer; † Bridging vbl. sb., shortening.
1382. Wyclif, Bible, Pref. Epist., I. 72/2. Perlipomynon, that is, the book of the olde instrument, recapitulatour, word bregger. Ibid., 2 Macc. ii. 32. To be grauntid to the bregger [Vulg. brevianti]. Ibid., Wks. (1880), 74. Þo þat ben cursed of god for bregynge of his hestis … ben not ponyschid þus.
c. 1534. trans. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (1846), I. 197. Let this compendius brigement suffice.
1559. Morwyng, Evonymus, 320. The Breviarium or Bridgment of Arnold de Villa Nova.
