City in western England, Middle English Bridgestow, from Old English Brycgstow, literally "assembly place by a bridge" (see bridge (n.) + stow). A local peculiarity of pronunciation adds -l to words ending in vowels. Of a type of pottery, 1776; of a type of glass, 1880. In British slang, bristols, "breasts," is by 1961, from Bristol cities, rhyming slang for titties.
Entries linking to bristol
bridge n.1
[structure that affords passage over a ravine or river] Middle English brigge, from Old English brycge, from Proto-Germanic *brugjo (source also of Old Saxon bruggia, Old Norse bryggja, Old Frisian brigge, Dutch brug, Old High German brucca, German Brücke), from PIE root *bhru "log, beam," hence "wooden causeway" (source also of Gaulish briva "bridge," Old Church Slavonic bruvuno "beam," Serbian brv "footbridge").
The original notion is of a beam or log laid down for crossing. Compare Old Church Slavonic mostu, Serbo-Croatian most "bridge," probably originally "beam" and a loanword from Germanic, related to English mast (n.1). For the vowel evolution, see bury.
The meaning "bony upper part of the nose" is from early 15c.; of stringed instruments from late 14c. The bridge of a ship (by 1843) originally was a "narrow raised platform athwart the ship whence the Captain issues his orders" [Sir Geoffrey Callender, "Sea Passages"].
Bridge in steam-vessels is the connection between the paddle-boxes, from which the officer in charge directs the motion of the vessel. [Smyth, "The Sailor's Word-book," 1867]
stow v.
c. 1300, "to put, place (somewhere)," verbal use of Old English noun stow "a place, spot, site, locality" (common in place names), from Proto-Germanic *stowo- (source also of Old Frisian sto "place," Middle Low German, Middle Dutch stouwen, Dutch stuwen "to stow," Old High German stouwen "to stop, check," German stauen "to stow, pack; bring to a halt, hem in"), from PIE *stau- "stout, standing, strong," extended form of root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm" (source also of Old Church Slavonic stavljo "to place," Lithuanian stoviu, stovėti "to stand"). The nautical sense of "put away to be stored, pack" (1550s) was enforced by Dutch stouwen "to cram, pack up close." Related: Stowed; stowing.