Meaning & use
gird yourself
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiomliterary
To prepare yourself mentally or emotionally for a difficult or unpleasant situation that is coming.
Grammar: The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject: gird himself, gird ourselves.
Patterns
- gird yourself for something
- gird yourself to do something
Gird yourself for a long meeting this afternoon.
She girded herself to tell her parents the news.
The town girded itself for the arrival of the storm.
Word forms
| third person singular | girds yourself (girds himself) |
|---|---|
| past tense | girded yourself (girded herself) |
| -ing form | girding yourself |
Common combinations
- gird yourself for battle
- The team girded itself for battle against the champions.
- gird yourself for the worst
- Gird yourself for the worst before you open the results.
- gird yourself to face
- He girded himself to face his critics.
- gird yourself against
- Investors are girding themselves against more losses.
Synonyms and how they differ
- brace yourself
- Brace yourself is more common in everyday speech, while gird yourself sounds more dramatic or literary.
- steel yourself
- Steel yourself stresses finding firm courage, while gird yourself stresses getting ready.
- prepare yourself
- Prepare yourself is neutral and can be about something pleasant, while gird yourself always expects difficulty.
Word family
Commonly confused: gird yourself or guard yourself?
gird yourself vs guard yourself
Guard yourself means protect yourself from harm, but gird yourself means get ready to face something.
Practice
The nurses ___ for another long night as the storm approached.
Choose one answer.
Girded themselves means mentally prepared for something hard. Guarded themselves would mean protected, and the other options make no sense here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gird yourself”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.