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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
Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 12 Sep. 2025
The La Brea alum turned heads wearing a custom floral gown designed by Hayley Paige, who recently made her triumphant return to bridal and regained the rights to her name and intellectual property after a years-long legal battle with her former label, JLM Couture.
—Ashlyn Robinette, PEOPLE, 8 Sep. 2025
Ariana Quihuiz, PEOPLE, 12 Sep. 2025
All Vera Wang Bride purchases will qualify for David’s Diamond Loyalty Program, the industry’s first and only bridal loyalty rewards program.
—Lisa Lockwood, Footwear News, 12 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 15 Sep. 2025.
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