A two-masted sailing ship with square-rigged sails. Also refers to a ship's prison or jail.
Shortened from 'brigantine', from Italian 'brigantino', originally meaning a pirate ship. The term comes from 'brigante' meaning brigand or pirate. The prison sense developed from naval vessels' practice of confining prisoners in the ship's hold.
The word 'brig' has a swashbuckling etymology - it literally means 'pirate ship' in its original Italian form. It's poetic that a ship type named after outlaws eventually gave its name to the place where rule-breakers are confined, showing how maritime law and language evolved together.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.