Other forms: brigs
The brig is the prison on board a ship. Thrown in the brig, three days in the brig, the ship's brig.
It is chiefly naval and American, and it survives ashore for a military lock-up. The word is short for brigantine, because such ships were once used to hold prisoners — so a type of sailing vessel gave its name to a cell.
1nounbrigThe prison on board a ship.
“The captain threw the drunken sailor in the brig for the night.”
brig is a prison.
BRIG → the BIG locked door
One big door at the bottom of the ship, locked from the outside. That is where they put you and that is where you stay.
hooks ontobig
Short for brigantine, a two-masted ship, from the use of such vessels as floating prisons.
Italian
brigantino
English, today
brig
Abbreviated from brigantine, from Italian brigantino; in sense “jail”, from the use of such ships as prisons.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA