What is "bridge whist"

Whist \Whist\, n. [From Whist, interj.] A certain game at cards; -- so called because it requires silence and close attention. It is played by four persons (those who sit opposite each other being partners) with a complete pack of fifty-two cards. Each player has thirteen cards, and when these are played out, the hand is finished, and the cards are again shuffled and distributed.

Note: Points are scored for the tricks taken in excess of six, and for the honors held. In long whist, now seldom played, ten points make the game; in short whist, now usually played in England, five points make the game. In American whist, so-called, honors are not counted, and seven points by tricks make the game.

Bridge whist. See Bridge, n., above.

Duplicate whist, a form of whist in playing which the hands are preserved as dealt and played again by other players, as when each side holds in the second round the cards played by the opposing side in the first round.

Solo whist. See Solo whist, above.

n. the earliest form of bridge; the dealer could name the trump suit

Bridge whist or straight bridge is a card game popular in the early 20th century. It was derived from whist with the additional rules that the players would take turns as dummy and that the trump suit would be deliberately chosen (including the option not to have one) on each deal rather than random. Later variations of the game led to auction bridge and then contract bridge, which superseded the others. Bridge whist had similar rules to Russian whist of the time, and the earliest known set of rules for it, printed in 1886, actually refers to the game as Biritch, or Russian Whist.