Other forms: bridled, bridles
A bridle is the straps and bit by which a horse is guided. Put on the bridle, hold the bridle, a leather bridle.
It goes on the head and carries the bit and the reins, which is the whole control system — a halter has no bit and cannot steer. To bridle at something means to react with offence, from the way a horse throws up its head. Note that the word is related to braid.
1nounbridleThe straps and bit by which a horse is guided.
“She slipped the bridle over the horse's head and led it out of the stable.”
2verbreactTo react with offence.
“She bridled at the suggestion that she couldn't handle the job.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
bridle is a piece of harness.
Old English bridel comes from a Germanic root also behind braid, from the plaiting of the straps.
Proto-Germanic
*brigdilaz — strap, rein
Proto-West Germanic
*brigdil
Old English
brīdel
Middle English
bridel
English, today
bridle
From Middle English bridel, from Old English brīdel, from Proto-West Germanic brigdil, from Proto-Germanic brigdilaz (“strap, rein”), equivalent to braid + le.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA