bridler

bridler

English

Etymology

bridle +‎ -er

Noun

bridler (plural bridlers)

1. One who bridles.
2. One who restrains and governs, as with a bridle.
   • 1642, John Milton, The Reason of Church-Government Urg’d against Prelaty; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, OCLC 926209975, page 218:

     The Prelats which boaſt themſelves the only bridlers of Schiſm, God knows have been ſo cold and backward both there and with us to repreſs Hereſie and idolatry, that either through their careleſſneſs or their craft all this miſchief is befaln.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for bridler in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)