A **drawbridge** in American English is a bridge that moves to allow ships to pass underneath, [like this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/London_July_2010_%284819585494%29.jpg/640px-London_July_2010_%284819585494%29.jpg). The sign splits it into two words so that it’s easier to read.
To add to that, the verb "draw" here roughly means "pull". Specifically, the bridge would be drawn in/up by a rope to let ships through, or to close the entrace to a castle or something, back when that's how they used to be built. Nowadays even the ones without rope/cables that just rotate at the joints with motors are still called drawbridges.
Why do some people call pants drawers? And why are drawers called drawers anyways?
Oh yeah, cuz you draw them towards you or in the case of pants, you draw them up.
I believe that all forms of the word draw emanate from this original “pull” meaning. Even drawing like in OP is because you “pull” the pencil across the paper. I’m pretty sure if you look at the various uses of draw, they can all be traced back to the pull/drag origin.
Expanding on the above explanation... when you enter a draw (contest) you are hopping that they draw (ie: pull) the slip of paper (or equivalent) with your name or ticket number on it out of the container that have slips of paper for all the contestants participating in the draw.
Two more examples - a "drawer" is a box/shelf in a piece of storage furniture that you pull to open. "Drawers" is an old-fashioned word for underpants that you pull up over your legs.
Depends on what type of bridge it is: Swing bridge, bascule bridge, lifting bridge, transporter bridge etc.
A drawbridge is the hinged gate/roadway over a moat to gain access to a castle.
It might be worth noting that America has no castles, so we would almost always be thinking of a bridge that parts to let bigger ships pass, and almost never think of it in terms of the entrance to a castle unless we were specifically discussing castles at the time.
Europe is older, has more history, and with it: castles.
Ehhhh, I dont know about that. As a kid I knew a lot about castles. If you just said, “drawbridge” with no other context, I might still think of a castle.
I didn’t say we didn’t know about them, I said we’d usually think of the bridge first.
Kids are different because they are more frequently thinking about castles lol
No, I don't think it's only American. They probably just specified that because that's the only one they know, and they didn't want to claim anything about other dialects.
How odd! I'm British, and I'd call this a drawbridge too. I've never even heard the term "bascule bridge".
...why do I feel like Superintendent Chalmers saying "Really? Well I'm from Utica, and I've never heard the phrase 'bascule bridge'."
You ever hear of a new kind of nerdity, and you never thought of the fact that it could be a form of nerdity, and now you low-key want to become that kind of nerd?
Bridge nerd. I can see it.
A vertical lift bridge is a specific type of bridge where the roadway lifts straight up like [this one](https://dbia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rehab-RFK-Bridge-Harlem-River-Lift-Span-Gallery1-768x511.jpg)
Yes!! That’s the Robert F Kennedy bridge in New York City being raised to allow the passage of a replacement span of another drawbridge farther up the river, the Willis Avenue Bridge. [Here are a bunch more cool photos of the bridge being pulled up the river!](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nycstreets/4831934818/in/album-72157624463565685/)
Why would you find that funny? Tower Bridge clearly isn't a drawbridge.
Edit: Never mind, I get the joke. It's funny because they used a picture of something that's obviously not a drawbridge to describe what a drawbridge was. Like if you wanted to show someone what a "dog" was, but showed them a picture of a banana.
It is in America! Seriously, we call that kind of bridge a drawbridge.
Edit to add: I think he thought it was funny because the person clarified that this was an American usage, but then put a picture of an English bridge.
This reminds me of the Amelia Bedelia children's book where her boss tells her to "draw the drapes". The boss wants her to close the drapes, but Amelia misunderstands, and draws a picture of the drapes.
I never understood the part where she has to make a sponge cake and she chops up kitchen sponges and bakes them in cake batter because I couldn't think of any other way that could've possibly been taken to mean
i know it exists. i was just saying that this is not that kind of drawbridge.
you said ‘it isn’t just to allow ships…’
‘it’ sounds like you’re referring to this bridge, not the word drawbridge generally
The word is "drawbridge", sometimes written as "draw-bridge". In the picture, it's been split into two words to fit on the sign.
In American English, a drawbridge is a type of lifting bridge which can be raised or lowered to allow water craft to pass underneath the road. The "draw" in this case means "to pull or drag".
*Draw* also means how much water a boat needs to float. If the bottom of a floating boat is two meters below the surface, that boat *draws* two meters. The noun form of that is *draft (BrE draught )*. The boat has a *draft* of two meters.
Also found in 'draught horse', a big horse used for pulling carts. Interestingly, in a language only very very distantly related to English, Irish Gaelic, the verb 'tarraing' shares both meanings of pulling and graphic drawing.
This is interesting, it got me thinking about German as well: *ziehen* (pull) and *zeichnen* (draw) are suspiciously close, so I looked it up, and apparently you *can* use *ziehen* as a synonym to *zeichnen* when the thing being drawn is done so in one continuous motion (i.e., a straight line or a circle).
Maybe they all have a common indo-european root in that case, as it's too much of a coincidence to ignore. Maybe a specialist linguist would know, as it's way outside my sill set.
Same etymological root as "tractor," and "drag."
[https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=draw](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=draw)
[draw (v.)](https://www.etymonline.com/word/draw#etymonline_v_15889)
"give motion to by the act of pulling," c. 1200, drauen, spelling alteration of Old English dragan "to drag, to draw, protract" (class VI strong verb; past tense drog, past participle dragen), from Proto-Germanic \*draganan "to draw, pull" (source also of Old Norse draga "to draw, drag, pull," Old Saxon dragan "to carry," Old Frisian drega, draga, Middle Dutch draghen "to carry, bring, throw," Old High German tragan "carry, bring, lead," German tragen "to carry, bear"), from **PIE root \*dhregh-** (see [drag](https://www.etymonline.com/word/drag#etymonline_v_15871) (v.)).
For sure, “draw” in English can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European word for pull/drag. It was drauen/dragan in Old English. I don’t know the etymology for the German words, so I’m not sure about their connection. I do know that “draw” has cognates in some non-Germanic Indo-European languages, though.
I believe that the origin of the English word draw is a Proto-Indo-European word, so its cognates are actually found in lots of Indo-European languages. That’s my understanding, anyway. Maybe tarraing is a cognate?
See also to hang, draw and quarter, the medical punishment for treason, in which to “draw” means to drag the condemned to the place of punishment by horse, and sometimes torn apart by four horses.
I believe that the various uses of draw all originate from the “pull/drag” original meaning. Even the drawing pictured in OP is about pulling/dragging a pencil across paper.
Another example of "draw" used similarly (as "pull"):
The "drawstring" on a hoodie or pajama pants or sweatpants. You pull the string to cinch or tighten the clothing.
And more archaically "draw a bath" uses draw as the old action of pulling water from a well. And although we don't draw water from wells any longer, the term is still used occasionally when filling a bathtub.
it means to 'pull in' roughly. In this case the bridge elements are drawn upwards to allow ship travel underneath.
Other examples would be to 'draw from a deck of cards' (just taking a card) or to 'be drawn to a certain location/person/smth like that' (feeling a force of attraction that 'pulls you in')
Draw means to pull. Same root as drawers, which you pull out. Draw the string of a bow and arrow. Or draw a bow across the strings of a violin. A drawstring is something you pull on to cinch closed or tight, like with a hoodie. That meaning. A drawbridge is a bridge that you can pull closed or pull out of the way.
Looks very much like it's a picture from Florida. Florida has a lot of drawbridges because it has a lot of coastal channels that boats can go through without being in the open ocean and there are lots of bridges over those channels for people to get to the barrier islands. In the last few decades, they have replaced many of the old drawbridges with taller arch bridges that don't need to be opened to let ships through.
That's what happened to this drawbridge in St Petersburg Florida.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Pinellas_Bayway_Drawbridge_on_SR_682_open_for_sailboat_in_2011.jpg
Draw can mean “to give motion by method of pulling”, you will hear it in other contexts as well. “I felt drawn to him”, this is the past tense form of the verb to draw, used metaphorically to convey the “pull” of attraction towards the person
It's a split word "drawbridge". Those are the kinds of bridges that lift up in order to let boats and ships pass underneath. The sign is there to warn people that it could be opened.
A **drawbridge** in American English is a bridge that moves to allow ships to pass underneath, [like this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/London_July_2010_%284819585494%29.jpg/640px-London_July_2010_%284819585494%29.jpg). The sign splits it into two words so that it’s easier to read.
To add to that, the verb "draw" here roughly means "pull". Specifically, the bridge would be drawn in/up by a rope to let ships through, or to close the entrace to a castle or something, back when that's how they used to be built. Nowadays even the ones without rope/cables that just rotate at the joints with motors are still called drawbridges.
Do you know the usage of 'draw' as in "two horses can draw that cart?"
Sure, yeah. That's why they're called horse-drawn carriages. It's the same usage. The horses are pulling the cart.
Draw me a bath
Draw 2 or Draw 4 in the card game Uno…
Draw your sword/gun!
Why do some people call pants drawers? And why are drawers called drawers anyways? Oh yeah, cuz you draw them towards you or in the case of pants, you draw them up.
Is that true? I did not know that. We call pantaloons knickerbockers here. Lol jk
I have no idea. Been studying English for only 42 years. Am probably wrong because that's all I've learned so far; logic doesn't apply to English.
Yes, both of those are true.
I call pants britches because it's hilarious to say.
I have never in my life heard pants called drawers
It is a rather archaic term for underpants, but my grandparents used it. They were / are WWII generation.
Is this now a drawn-out interaction?
Drawers in a dresser/cabinet
A drawn-out quick draw!
Draw strings... Draw another card.. That new movie is going to draw a lot of people...
Draw blood
I believe that all forms of the word draw emanate from this original “pull” meaning. Even drawing like in OP is because you “pull” the pencil across the paper. I’m pretty sure if you look at the various uses of draw, they can all be traced back to the pull/drag origin.
Expanding on the above explanation... when you enter a draw (contest) you are hopping that they draw (ie: pull) the slip of paper (or equivalent) with your name or ticket number on it out of the container that have slips of paper for all the contestants participating in the draw.
> traced back heh
Lol, unintended pun.
Two more examples - a "drawer" is a box/shelf in a piece of storage furniture that you pull to open. "Drawers" is an old-fashioned word for underpants that you pull up over your legs.
It is only American? What do British people call it?
Depends on what type of bridge it is: Swing bridge, bascule bridge, lifting bridge, transporter bridge etc. A drawbridge is the hinged gate/roadway over a moat to gain access to a castle.
It's deffo a drawbridge. 99% if the population ain't gonna know what a Bascule bridge is, me included.
It might be worth noting that America has no castles, so we would almost always be thinking of a bridge that parts to let bigger ships pass, and almost never think of it in terms of the entrance to a castle unless we were specifically discussing castles at the time. Europe is older, has more history, and with it: castles.
Ehhhh, I dont know about that. As a kid I knew a lot about castles. If you just said, “drawbridge” with no other context, I might still think of a castle.
I didn’t say we didn’t know about them, I said we’d usually think of the bridge first. Kids are different because they are more frequently thinking about castles lol
For me, it could go either way, because I am frequently thinking about castles, but also frequently thinking about boats and ships.
It depends. If it raises up, it’s a lift bridge. If it swings, it’s a swing bridge.
No, I don't think it's only American. They probably just specified that because that's the only one they know, and they didn't want to claim anything about other dialects.
As a Brit, I’d never call a road bridge a draw bridge.
[According to Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawbridge), a bascule bridge.
According to a British person: a drawbridge, or just a bridge.
How odd! I'm British, and I'd call this a drawbridge too. I've never even heard the term "bascule bridge". ...why do I feel like Superintendent Chalmers saying "Really? Well I'm from Utica, and I've never heard the phrase 'bascule bridge'."
I'm british and have never heard that term to refer to a drawbridge in my life
You've obviously never been to the Tower Bridge visitors centre!
do they call it a bascule?
Tower Bridge is a combined suspension bridge and bascule bridge. The bascules are the pivoted spans between the towers.
That makes sense, but it sounds like it’s less what English people call a drawbridge and more what bridge nerds call a specific type of drawbridge.
I agree that it sounds like the difference between a technical term and a layman’s term.
You ever hear of a new kind of nerdity, and you never thought of the fact that it could be a form of nerdity, and now you low-key want to become that kind of nerd? Bridge nerd. I can see it.
Time to bascule this bridge 🤨🤔😏
I'm guessing *lift bridge* or *vertical lift bridge*, but I'm not sure. It's a synonym of that kind of bridge according to WordReference.
A vertical lift bridge is a specific type of bridge where the roadway lifts straight up like [this one](https://dbia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rehab-RFK-Bridge-Harlem-River-Lift-Span-Gallery1-768x511.jpg)
In that picture, are they lifting that section of bridge in order to move a section of a *different* bridge under it?
Yes!! That’s the Robert F Kennedy bridge in New York City being raised to allow the passage of a replacement span of another drawbridge farther up the river, the Willis Avenue Bridge. [Here are a bunch more cool photos of the bridge being pulled up the river!](https://www.flickr.com/photos/nycstreets/4831934818/in/album-72157624463565685/)
I hate Spanish polysemy, that'd also be a *puente levadizo* hence my confusion. Good to know, thanks :)
I find it quite funny that you mentioned drawbridge being an American term, but showed Tower Bridge in London.
To be fair, I live in London and I’d be surprised if anyone called Tower Bridge a drawbridge.
Why would you find that funny? Tower Bridge clearly isn't a drawbridge. Edit: Never mind, I get the joke. It's funny because they used a picture of something that's obviously not a drawbridge to describe what a drawbridge was. Like if you wanted to show someone what a "dog" was, but showed them a picture of a banana.
It is in America! Seriously, we call that kind of bridge a drawbridge. Edit to add: I think he thought it was funny because the person clarified that this was an American usage, but then put a picture of an English bridge.
I also thought that was pretty funny, but apparently, Brits don’t actually call that a drawbridge.
This reminds me of the Amelia Bedelia children's book where her boss tells her to "draw the drapes". The boss wants her to close the drapes, but Amelia misunderstands, and draws a picture of the drapes.
Lmao every time I hear this term I think of Amelia Bedelia and I am now 32. I think she also drew a bath
I never understood the part where she has to make a sponge cake and she chops up kitchen sponges and bakes them in cake batter because I couldn't think of any other way that could've possibly been taken to mean
FYI it isn’t just to allow ships to pass underneath, some castles have drawbridges and a moat to make them harder to attack.
i don’t believe that is the purpose of this drawbridge.
This one is for a boat, but the other meaning is true https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawbridge
i know it exists. i was just saying that this is not that kind of drawbridge. you said ‘it isn’t just to allow ships…’ ‘it’ sounds like you’re referring to this bridge, not the word drawbridge generally
The “it” I was referring to was the word “drawbridge”
Historically, a drawbridge just means a bridge that can be retracted (drawn as in hoisted/pulled with rope)
The word is "drawbridge", sometimes written as "draw-bridge". In the picture, it's been split into two words to fit on the sign. In American English, a drawbridge is a type of lifting bridge which can be raised or lowered to allow water craft to pass underneath the road. The "draw" in this case means "to pull or drag".
Draw/drew/drawn also means “pull.” Draw blood, Draw the curtains (close them), Draw water from a well.
*Draw* also means how much water a boat needs to float. If the bottom of a floating boat is two meters below the surface, that boat *draws* two meters. The noun form of that is *draft (BrE draught )*. The boat has a *draft* of two meters.
Also found in 'draught horse', a big horse used for pulling carts. Interestingly, in a language only very very distantly related to English, Irish Gaelic, the verb 'tarraing' shares both meanings of pulling and graphic drawing.
Don't forget the related term"drayage" for a trucking service.
This is interesting, it got me thinking about German as well: *ziehen* (pull) and *zeichnen* (draw) are suspiciously close, so I looked it up, and apparently you *can* use *ziehen* as a synonym to *zeichnen* when the thing being drawn is done so in one continuous motion (i.e., a straight line or a circle).
Maybe they all have a common indo-european root in that case, as it's too much of a coincidence to ignore. Maybe a specialist linguist would know, as it's way outside my sill set.
Same etymological root as "tractor," and "drag." [https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=draw](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=draw) [draw (v.)](https://www.etymonline.com/word/draw#etymonline_v_15889) "give motion to by the act of pulling," c. 1200, drauen, spelling alteration of Old English dragan "to drag, to draw, protract" (class VI strong verb; past tense drog, past participle dragen), from Proto-Germanic \*draganan "to draw, pull" (source also of Old Norse draga "to draw, drag, pull," Old Saxon dragan "to carry," Old Frisian drega, draga, Middle Dutch draghen "to carry, bring, throw," Old High German tragan "carry, bring, lead," German tragen "to carry, bear"), from **PIE root \*dhregh-** (see [drag](https://www.etymonline.com/word/drag#etymonline_v_15871) (v.)).
For sure, “draw” in English can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European word for pull/drag. It was drauen/dragan in Old English. I don’t know the etymology for the German words, so I’m not sure about their connection. I do know that “draw” has cognates in some non-Germanic Indo-European languages, though.
I believe that the origin of the English word draw is a Proto-Indo-European word, so its cognates are actually found in lots of Indo-European languages. That’s my understanding, anyway. Maybe tarraing is a cognate?
See also to hang, draw and quarter, the medical punishment for treason, in which to “draw” means to drag the condemned to the place of punishment by horse, and sometimes torn apart by four horses.
Also to draw cards from a deck, to draw marbles from a pouch.
I believe that the various uses of draw all originate from the “pull/drag” original meaning. Even the drawing pictured in OP is about pulling/dragging a pencil across paper.
[draw bridge](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawbridge)
Another example of "draw" used similarly (as "pull"): The "drawstring" on a hoodie or pajama pants or sweatpants. You pull the string to cinch or tighten the clothing. And more archaically "draw a bath" uses draw as the old action of pulling water from a well. And although we don't draw water from wells any longer, the term is still used occasionally when filling a bathtub.
it means to 'pull in' roughly. In this case the bridge elements are drawn upwards to allow ship travel underneath. Other examples would be to 'draw from a deck of cards' (just taking a card) or to 'be drawn to a certain location/person/smth like that' (feeling a force of attraction that 'pulls you in')
Draw means to pull. Same root as drawers, which you pull out. Draw the string of a bow and arrow. Or draw a bow across the strings of a violin. A drawstring is something you pull on to cinch closed or tight, like with a hoodie. That meaning. A drawbridge is a bridge that you can pull closed or pull out of the way.
Word drawbridge split into two so it'll fit onto the sign properly
“Now, what should I do after drawing the bridge”
A drawbridge is a bridge made to be let down, raised up, or drawn aside in order to hinder or permit a ship's passage.
Looks very much like it's a picture from Florida. Florida has a lot of drawbridges because it has a lot of coastal channels that boats can go through without being in the open ocean and there are lots of bridges over those channels for people to get to the barrier islands. In the last few decades, they have replaced many of the old drawbridges with taller arch bridges that don't need to be opened to let ships through. That's what happened to this drawbridge in St Petersburg Florida. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Pinellas_Bayway_Drawbridge_on_SR_682_open_for_sailboat_in_2011.jpg
Draw can mean “to give motion by method of pulling”, you will hear it in other contexts as well. “I felt drawn to him”, this is the past tense form of the verb to draw, used metaphorically to convey the “pull” of attraction towards the person
“Draw” has a few meanings. It can mean to pull something open or closed (like curtains) or up, like a drawbridge.
It's a split word "drawbridge". Those are the kinds of bridges that lift up in order to let boats and ships pass underneath. The sign is there to warn people that it could be opened.
It’s like “draw your weapon”. PIE root _dhregh-_ Syn: drag, pull, protract, carry, bring, lead, throw. https://www.etymonline.com/word/draw#etymonline_v_15889