pontoon bridge
1
6.8
- noun
- /pɒnˈtuːn brɪdʒ/
- Specialized
:
puente de pontones
- On Dec. 11, 1862, Union troops sneaked forward under the pre-dawn fog to begin building pontoon bridges crossing the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, drawing Confederate fire.
- build a pontoon bridge
- cross a pontoon bridge
- pontoon bridge across a river
Examples
-
Near Calhoun, on May 16, Johnston sent a rather baffling message to Davis in Richmond: "The enemy laid a pontoon bridge below Calhoun, under protection of two divisions."
Academic text (2007) -
The pontoon bridges are gone, sir, cut loose from their banks.
-
By 3 pm, it's a pontoon bridge strong enough for a fully loaded truck.
-
"I drove to the Rhine River and went across on the pontoon bridge."
Blog text (7) -
Ozaro's men cross the Adaje on a pontoon bridge and begin moving N.
-
That night, the French assemble a pontoon bridge over the Alpone.
-
The military engineers built a pontoon bridge to allow troops to cross the river swiftly.
-
During the flood, they set up a temporary pontoon bridge to connect the two banks.
-
After several hours of work, the team finished constructing the pontoon bridge and began moving supplies across.
Synonyms
1
4.2
A temporary bridge that rests on boats or platforms on water
A temporary crossing made from boats or rafts to carry people and vehicles over water
How Permanent
7
3.2
- Specialized
1
6.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a bridge supported by floating pontoons' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'pontoon' (a floating support) with 'bridge' (a span for crossing). This noun-noun composition follows normal English compounding and is analogous to constructions in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The noun pontoon bridge comes from the simple image of a bridge built on pontoons, which are small boats or hollow floats tied together and covered with planks. Because those floating supports are not permanent, the word came to mean a 'temporary' bridge that sits on 'floating' supports and can be put up quickly to cross water.