brig
verbEtymology Abbreviated from brigantine, from Italian brigantino; in sense “jail”, from the use of such ships as prisons.
- Related terms
- goldbrick
brig
noun/bɹɪɡ/
Etymology Abbreviated from brigantine, from Italian brigantino; in sense “jail”, from the use of such ships as prisons.
- Dorey harbour is in a fine bay, at one extremity of which an elevated point juts out, and, with two or three small islands, forms a sheltered anchorage. The only vessel it contained when we arrived was a Dutch brig, laden with coals for the use of a war-steamer, which was expected daily, on an exploring expedition along the coasts of New Guinea, for the purpose of fixing on a locality for a colony.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 304:
2
US A jail or guardhouse, especially in a naval military prison or jail on a ship, navy base, or (in fiction) spacecraft.
- Derived terms
- brig rat
- Related terms
- gun-brig, hermaphrodite brig