bridesman

English

Alternative forms
  • bride's-man

Etymology

Alteration of earlier brideman; compare bridesmaid.

Noun

bridesman (plural bridesmen)

  1. A male friend or companion of the bridegroom, having various ceremonial duties at a wedding.
    • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford 2010, p. 7:
      It was customary, in those days, for the bride's-man and maiden, and a few select friends, to visit the newly married couple after they had retired to rest […].
    • 2005, Susan Karant-Nunn, The Reformation of Ritual, page 26:
      According to him, on the following Thursday, the bridesmen, numbering “six, eight, even ten or more,” rode on horseback with four wagons to get the bride.
  2. A male bridesmaid; a man who attends a bride during her wedding ceremony, as part of the wedding party.
    • 2008 June 26, Katie Zezima, “Bride-to-Be Takes a Chance on eBay for a Bidding Bridesmaid”, in New York Times‎:
      She might be renting a tux, however, as she is willing to have a bridesman.

Coordinate terms
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