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• brig
  brig
• Brig.
  Brig.

  abbreviation

  brigade.

brig

¹ American  

[brig] / brɪg /

noun

• brigs
  plural

1. Nautical.

   1. a two-masted vessel square-rigged on both masts.

   2. (formerly, in the U.S. Navy) an armed brig-rigged or brigantine-rigged vessel.

   3. the compartment of a ship where prisoners are confined.

2. a place of confinement or detention, especially in the U.S. Navy or Marines; guardhouse.

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Brig. ² American  

abbreviation

1. brigade.

2. brigadier.

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brig ¹ British  

/ brɪɡ /

noun

1. nautical a two-masted square-rigger

2. a prison, esp in a navy ship

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Brig. ² British  

abbreviation

1. Brigadier

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brig ³ British  

/ brɪɡ /

noun

1. a Scot and northern English word for a bridge 1

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• brigs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of brig

First recorded in 1705–15; short for brigantine

Explanation

A brig is a prison, especially a naval or military prison. This meaning comes from the fact that two-masted warships known as brigs were historically used as floating prisons. The word brig is a shortened form of brigantine, "a small, two-masted ship" with large, square sails. These speedy sailing vessels were extremely common until the late 1800s, when steam ships became widely available. These days, most people in the U.S. think of a brig as a military prison, and if a Navy or Coast Guard sailor breaks the law, they'll be "thrown in the brig."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brig Brig. brigs

They like Wash more than Titch, whom they throw in the brig, but they are nice, relatively speaking.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2025

Shaw also declines to throw Riker and Picard in the brig, though he would be in the right to do so.

From New York Times ● Feb. 23, 2023

Records suggest that the transatlantic voyage aboard the dilapidated brig was his final journey at sea, with one account saying he fell ill and resigned of his own accord, returning home as a paralytic.

From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2022

Together, we hacked a terminal, passed the brig override code across a room in a short game of telephone, and unlocked the door so that they could escape.

From The Verge ● Feb. 25, 2022

“I’b gudda brig you subbody,” Patrolman Mancuso wheezed again, this time even more unconvincingly than the first.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

“I learned it from my brother’s book. It’s either that or Brigantine, which is a boat, too, and I could call her Brig. But I’m also thinking about Clipper, like the ship.”

From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick

The 2nd Brig. will entrench the sector Sand Road to Bluff Point, both inclusive.

From Military Instructors Manual by Schoonmaker, Oliver

Instead, he conjured the past as a master of richly detailed historical works brimming with schooners, brigs and sloops, their sails flapping under moody clouds, with shore lights twinkling in the distance.

From New York Times ● May 1, 2023

The first ships to sail the lakes were classic European schooners, sloops and brigs.

From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2016

A realistic view of the problem of discipline in the U.S. armed forces indicates that if sonny kept his nose clean, there would be no necessity for brigs or for guards.

From Time Magazine Archive

Prosperous merchants commissioned portraits of their stately brigs and packets, much as doting mammas demand likenesses of their children.

From Time Magazine Archive

Through the smoke we saw other launches put in from other brigs and sloops slipping toward the embattled docks.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson