bridged

Bridged is the past tense and past participle of the verb bridge. It is used as an adjective and as a verb to indicate that something has been connected or spanned by a bridge, or has been connected through a bridging mechanism.

In civil engineering and transportation, bridged describes structures and routes created by building a bridge over an obstacle such as a river or valley, enabling passage where none existed.

In computing and networking, bridged refers to bridging as a network operation. A network bridge forwards frames between segments at the data link layer, making separate networks function as a single logical network. A bridged network can be created by hardware bridges or by software on routers and virtualization platforms; bridge mode devices connect to existing networks without performing traditional routing.

In electronics, a bridge or bridged configuration is used in measurement circuits such as the Wheatstone bridge, or in audio power amplification where two amplifiers drive a load in opposite phase (bridge-tied load). The term bridged is used to indicate the use of a bridge circuit or bridging arrangement.

The concept of bridging also appears in metaphorical uses, describing connections that link disparate parts of a system, domain, or community to reduce gaps and improve integration.