bridger

See also: Bridger

English

Etymology

From Middle English briggere, equivalent to bridge +‎ -er (occupational suffix) or +‎ -er (agent noun suffix).

Noun

bridger (plural bridgers)

1. One who builds bridges
   • 2008, Julie Bertagna, Zenith, page 191:

     And he wasn't an ordinary bridger, Tuck remembers, he was said to be one of the best bridge-masters on Pomperoy.

2. One who bridges, or connects two previously separate things.
   • 2002, James R. Delisle, Barefoot Irreverence, page 178:

     In either arrangement, the teacher reserves personal judgment and acts more as a bridger of student ideas or as an encourager of reluctant participants (vocal participation, though, should always be the student's prerogative).

3. One who plays bridge (card game)

Related terms

• Fort Bridger

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English bridge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁi.dʒe/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

bridger

1. (intransitive) to play bridge (the card game)

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written bridge- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

Conjugation of bridger (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	bridger
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	bridgeant /bʁi.dʒɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		bridgé /bʁi.dʒe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	bridge /bʁidʒ/	bridges /bʁidʒ/	bridge /bʁidʒ/	bridgeons /bʁi.dʒɔ̃/	bridgez /bʁi.dʒe/	bridgent /bʁidʒ/
	imperfect	bridgeais /bʁi.dʒɛ/	bridgeais /bʁi.dʒɛ/	bridgeait /bʁi.dʒɛ/	bridgions /bʁidʒ.jɔ̃/	bridgiez /bʁidʒ.je/	bridgeaient /bʁi.dʒɛ/
	past historic2	bridgeai /bʁi.dʒe/	bridgeas /bʁi.dʒa/	bridgea /bʁi.dʒa/	bridgeâmes /bʁi.dʒam/	bridgeâtes /bʁi.dʒat/	bridgèrent /bʁi.dʒɛʁ/
	future	bridgerai /bʁi.dʒə.ʁe/	bridgeras /bʁi.dʒə.ʁa/	bridgera /bʁi.dʒə.ʁa/	bridgerons /bʁi.dʒə.ʁɔ̃/	bridgerez /bʁi.dʒə.ʁe/	bridgeront /bʁi.dʒə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	bridgerais /bʁi.dʒə.ʁɛ/	bridgerais /bʁi.dʒə.ʁɛ/	bridgerait /bʁi.dʒə.ʁɛ/	bridgerions /bʁi.dʒə.ʁjɔ̃/	bridgeriez /bʁi.dʒə.ʁje/	bridgeraient /bʁi.dʒə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	bridge /bʁidʒ/	bridges /bʁidʒ/	bridge /bʁidʒ/	bridgions /bʁidʒ.jɔ̃/	bridgiez /bʁidʒ.je/	bridgent /bʁidʒ/
	imperfect2	bridgeasse /bʁi.dʒas/	bridgeasses /bʁi.dʒas/	bridgeât /bʁi.dʒa/	bridgeassions /bʁi.dʒa.sjɔ̃/	bridgeassiez /bʁi.dʒa.sje/	bridgeassent /bʁi.dʒas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	bridge /bʁidʒ/	—	bridgeons /bʁi.dʒɔ̃/	bridgez /bʁi.dʒe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “bridger”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.