rainbow bridge

English

The god Heimdall stands before the rainbow bridge (sense 1) while blowing his horn (1905) by Emil Doepler

The Rainbow Bridge (sense 2) as a meadow where animals wait for their humans to join them, and the bridge that takes them all to Heaven, together

Pronunciation

Audio (US): (file)

Proper noun

the rainbow bridge

(Germanic paganism) The road between the realm of the gods and the realm of men in Heathenry which appears in the form of a rainbow; Bifrost.
- 1993 The Rites of Odin, Ed Fitch, Llewellyn, →ISBN, page 273.
  O High Ones of the Rainbow Bridge, Thou hast heard that which is my need And my desire.
- 1998 Heartland, Volume 1, Issue 3 (Heathen Journal), I Believe, Joanne Fletcher - Holloway.
  With nature I give and feel her pain, In Freyja's arms I'm at peace again, And in all I've heard, And in all I've read, My life is anew, like the eagle that flew, Across the Rainbow Bridge, Myself to myself, I give to you.
- 2004 The Book of Seithr, Runic John, Capall Bann Publishing, →ISBN, page 82.
  Asgard stands perched on the highest branches of the tree, where it is reached by crossing Bifrost, the rainbow bridge.
(euphemistic) A metaphorical bridge crossed at death, usually in reference to pets.
Two of my three dogs have crossed the rainbow bridge.
- 2005 September 23, jacquie, kylie & gilbert, “Typo (0/1)”, in alt.pets.ferrets‎^[1] (Usenet):
  I'm so sorry your little Typo is gone. Surely she knew how much she was loved and she will wait for you at the Rainbow Bridge.
- 2023, Edith Podhovnik, “Cats and Their Digital Spaces”, in “The Cativerse”, in Purrieties of Language: How We Talk about Cats Online, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 11:
  On social media, users share their emotions, positive and negative, when, for example, cats celebrate their birthdays or adoptaversaries, or when cats are ill or ‘have crossed the rainbow bridge’.

rainbow bridge

English

Pronunciation

Proper noun

See also

Further reading