Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a woman, esp. a girlfriend.

1899		C.W. Chandler Darkest Adelaide 8/1: ‘Now, th’ bloke’s spieler and ’is cobber’s piece o’ goods weren’t on dookin’ terms; so while ’e (th’ cobber) ’ad to chat ’is (the cobber’s) bride, ’e (th’ cobber) jerked into tootling to ’s (th’ bloke’s) filly’.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. of Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: bride. A young lady, she with whom one is seen in company.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 199: Okay, then, I start a bottle party with this bride.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 41: She was lovely, she was grand, a proper, right, straight up smasher of a bride.
1954		R. Fabian London After Dark 103: Every gang has its team of ‘brides’ or ‘chicks’ [...] who are captivated by the glamour of belonging to a boy gang.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 19: Bride Bed companion.

2. a prostitute.

1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 274: I was reading a piece they put in the paper all about you and that bride.
1981		(con. c.1900s) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 111: Some of the brides went with thieves, luring men home and having them coshed.
2003		(con. 1932) W. Woodruff Beyond Nab End 30: Pearly Lilly [...] plying her profession as a ‘bride’ among the nobs of the West End.