Native English Speaker Question?

Question

Can you use BRIDLE in the sense "CONTROL".

Like: You should BRIDLE your emotions / mouth etc.

And if so, why does a dictionary as famous as OALD doesn't even bother to mention it????? Seriously, why?

http://www.oup.com/oald-bin/web_getald7index1a.pl

Answer 1

You can't use it in modern speech. Perhaps in the past. Bridle is a word meaning to control a horse, and with the invention of the car it has become unneccesary in moderm language.