Bridget

English form of the Irish saints' name Brighid, Brigid.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɪd͡ʒɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪdʒɪt

Bridget

1. A female given name.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     […] and when Mistress Bridget lost the handle of her fan, I took't upon mine honour thou hadst it not.

   • 2000, David Pierce, Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader, Cork University Press., →ISBN, pages 8-9:

     Of all the beautiful Christian names of women which were in use a century or two ago Brighid (Breed), under the ugly form of Bridget, or still worse, Biddy, and Eiblin under the form of Eveleen, and perhaps Norah, seem to be the only survivals, and they are becoming rarer.

Bridget (plural Bridgets)

1. (US, dated) An Irish housemaid.
   • Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Good Housekeeping

     So long as any Bridget just landed (even before she has learned to walk comfortably in American shoes) can be sure of four dollars a week and her board and prequisites, it is the Bridgets who are really mistress of the situation.

   • 2009, Aife Murray, Maid as Muse: How Servants Changed Emily Dickinson's Life and Language

     Beggar lads, emigrants, mowers, slaves, rustics, Malays, Bridgets, and porters peopled her work […]