Meaning & use
gird
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Meanings
verbtransitivefigurative
To get yourself mentally ready for something hard or frightening that is about to happen.
Grammar: Takes a reflexive object and usually 'for': gird yourself for the news.
Patterns
- gird yourself for something
- gird yourself against something
- gird up your loins
She girded herself for a difficult conversation with her boss.
The coach told the team to gird themselves for a long season.
Residents girded themselves for another week of heavy snow.
verbtransitiveliteraryarchaic
To fasten something around the body or waist with a belt or band.
Grammar: The belt or garment is used with 'with', or the body is the object: he girded his waist with a sash.
Patterns
- gird something with something
- gird oneself with something
The knight girded his sword to his waist before dawn.
She girded her long robe with a red cord.
He girded himself with a leather belt for the long march.
verbtransitiveliterary
To surround or encircle something, often as protection.
Grammar: Usually passive: the town was girded by high walls.
Patterns
- be girded by something
- be girt by something
The old city was girded by thick stone walls.
The island, girded by reefs, is hard to approach by boat.
Mountains gird the valley on every side.
Word forms
| third person singular | girds |
|---|---|
| past tense | girded or girt |
| past participle | girded or girt |
| -ing form | girding |
Common combinations
- gird oneself for
- Farmers girded themselves for a long, dry summer.
- gird one's loins
- I girded my loins and opened the tax letter.
- gird for battle
- The army girded for battle at the river.
- gird up
- Gird up your courage and apologize to her.
- girded with a belt
- The monk was girded with a rope belt.
Synonyms and how they differ
- brace
- 'Brace' is the everyday word for getting ready for something unpleasant, and works in ordinary speech where 'gird' sounds literary.
- steel
- 'Steel' stresses hardening your resolve, as in 'steel yourself', and is slightly more common than 'gird' today.
- prepare
- 'Prepare' is the plain word and covers any kind of getting ready, while 'gird' suggests facing something difficult.
- fortify
- 'Fortify' is about strengthening a place or a person's defenses, rather than just getting mentally ready.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: gird or grid?
gird vs grid
'Grid' is a network of lines or squares; learners sometimes mix up the letters of 'gird' and 'grid', which are unrelated in meaning.
Practice
Before the long meeting, she ___ herself for a difficult discussion.
Choose one answer.
'Girded herself for' means mentally prepared. 'Girdled' means encircled, 'gridded' is about grids, and 'guarded herself' would need 'against', not 'for'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gird”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.