Link Centre Dictionary

gird

UK/ɡɜːd/ US/ɡɝd/ uncommon

verb

1.

prepare oneself for a military confrontation

  • “The U.S. is girding for a conflict in the Middle East”
  • “troops are building up on the Iraqui border”
Synonyms
Antonyms
2.

encircle or bind

  • “Trees girded the green fields”
Synonyms
3.

put a girdle on or around

  • “gird your loins”
Synonyms
4.

Origin

From Middle English girden, gerden, gürden, from Old English gyrdan (“to put a belt around, to put a girdle around”), from Proto-Germanic *gurdijaną (“to gird”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ-. Cognate with West Frisian gurdzje, girdzje, Dutch gorden, German gürten, Swedish gjorda, Icelandic gyrða, Albanian ngërthej (“to tie together by weaving, to bind”).

Phrases

  • gird one's loins
  • gird up one's loins

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.