Actually I think the word "puente" really alludes to the fact that you bridge the holiday with the weekend. At least it makes sense when used that way. In fact, people will ask in those situations whether or not you are going to "hacer puente". So, there are times when people differentiate between a "puente" and having a weekend and then, say, a holiday on Tuesday.
That's especially true of moments like "puente de diciembre", when Dec. 6th and 8th are holidays and all sorts of crazy combinations come up, especially when they fall in the middle of the week, like last year.
Puentes can be official, that is, everyone gets the day off, or individual.
Still as I said before, regular long weekends are also called puentes.