bridesman

English

Alternative forms

• bride's-man

Etymology

Alteration of earlier brideman; compare bridesmaid.

Noun

bridesman (plural bridesmen)

1. A male friend or companion of the bridegroom, having various ceremonial duties at a wedding.
   • 1824, James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Oxford 2010, p. 7:

     It was customary, in those days, for the bride's-man and maiden, and a few select friends, to visit the newly married couple after they had retired to rest […].

   • 2005, Susan Karant-Nunn, The Reformation of Ritual, page 26:

     According to him, on the following Thursday, the bridesmen, numbering “six, eight, even ten or more,” rode on horseback with four wagons to get the bride.

2. A male bridesmaid; a man who attends a bride during her wedding ceremony, as part of the wedding party.
   • 2008 June 26, Katie Zezima, “Bride-to-Be Takes a Chance on eBay for a Bidding Bridesmaid”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     She might be renting a tux, however, as she is willing to have a bridesman.

Coordinate terms

• bridesmaid