gird1
[gurd]
- to encircle or bind with a belt or band.
- to surround; enclose; hem in.
- to prepare (oneself) for action: He girded himself for the trial ahead.
- to provide, equip, or invest, as with power or strength.
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Origin of gird1
before 950; Middle English girden, Old English gyrdan; cognate with German gürten
Synonyms
See more synonyms for gird on Thesaurus.com3. brace, steel, fortify, strengthen.
gird2
[gurd]
- to gibe; jeer (usually followed by at).
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- to gibe or jeer at; taunt.
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- a gibe.
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Origin of gird2
1175–1225; Middle English gyrd a stroke, blow, hence a cutting remark, derivative of girden to strike, smite < ?
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for gird
Contemporary Examples
They warn authorities to gird themselves for the possibility that many more men could surface.
As we gird our national loins for the mid-term elections in November, here is a brisk primer on the movement.
Historical Examples
Let them gird sackcloth on their loins and hide their faces.
The ChristianHall Caine
Does it become you, sir, do you think, to gird at one who is your prisoner?
The Strolling SaintRaphael Sabatini
Be a soldier, then, and gird thee for the great battle that is at hand.
Maurice Tiernay Soldier of FortuneCharles James Lever
Come, gird up thy loins and answer like a man, if thou canst.
Gird on, as gift from the gods, this sword that is immortal.
A Book of MythsJean Lang
gird1
- to put a belt, girdle, etc, around (the waist or hips)
- to bind or secure with or as if with a beltto gird on one's armour
- to surround; encircle
- to prepare (oneself) for action (esp in the phrase gird (up) one's loins)
- to endow with a rank, attribute, etc, esp knighthood
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Word Origin
Old English gyrdan, of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse gyrtha, Old High German gurten
gird2
- (when intr, foll by at) to jeer (at someone); mock
- (tr) to strike (a blow at someone)
- (intr) to move at high speed
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- a blow or stroke
- a taunt; gibe
- a display of bad temper or anger (esp in the phrases in a gird; throw a gird)
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Word Origin
C13 girden to strike, cut, of unknown origin
gird3
- Scot a hoop, esp a child's hoopAlso: girr
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Word Origin
a Scot variant of girth
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for gird
v.
Old English gyrdan "put a belt or girdle around; encircle, surround; invest with attributes," from Proto-Germanic *gurthjanan (cf. Old Norse gyrða, Old Saxon gurdian, Old Frisian gerda, Dutch gorden, Old High German gurtan, German gürten). Related to Old English geard "hedge, enclosure" (see yard (n.1)). Related: Girded; girding.
Throughout its whole history the English word is chiefly employed in rhetorical language, in many instances with more or less direct allusion to biblical passages. [OED]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper