Meanings
nounBailey bridge (plural Bailey bridges)
plural Bailey bridges
- engineeringA portable, prefabricated truss bridge, designed for use by military engineering units.
■ More than 1,200 Bailey Bridges, a system developed by the British but also used by the Americans, were constructed, principally for use by the railways.
2023 June 28, Christian Wolmar, “The railway's crucial role in the Normandy invasion”, in RAIL, number 986, page 45
Origin
Bailey + bridge. Named after British civil servant Donald Bailey, who invented them.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
Bailey bridge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bailey%20bridge
MLA
“Bailey bridge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bailey%20bridge. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Bailey bridge,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bailey%20bridge.
Source: Bailey bridge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.