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A secondary meaning of Old English ealu, the ancestor of Modern English ale, was “feast, banquet,” at which the drinking of ale was a prominent activity. There were a number of these feasts and banquets that survived into the 19th century, but the oldest and best-established was the bride-ale, or wedding feast, attested in Old English as brydealu. In Middle English the ale half of the word had lost its stress and was associated with the noun suffix –al (as in funeral) and the adjective suffix (as in parental). By the 18^th^ century, bridal was perceived primarily as an adjective, as it is today.
Examples of bridal in a Sentence
Siobhan Reid, Travel + Leisure, 14 Sep. 2025
The Vera Wang Haute business will continue to be operated independently by Vera Wang, offering custom couture bridal gowns and red-carpet couture.
—Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 12 Sep. 2025
Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 19 Sep. 2025
But what does the bridal consultant make of the woman who took her out?
—Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bridal
Cite this Entry
“Bridal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bridal. Accessed 23 Sep. 2025.
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