gird
pronunciation
How to pronounce gird in British English:
UK [ɡɜːd]
How to pronounce gird in American English:
US [ɡɜːrd]
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- Verb:
- prepare oneself for a military confrontation
- encircle or bind
- put a girdle on or around
- bind with something round or circular
Word Origin
- gird (v.)
- Old English gyrdan "put a belt or girdle around; encircle; bind with flexible material; invest with attributes," from Proto-Germanic *gurdjan (cognates: Old Norse gyrða, Old Saxon gurdian, Old Frisian gerda, Dutch gorden, Old High German gurtan, German gürten), from PIE *ghr-dh-, suffixed form of root *gher- (1) "to grasp" (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] As in to gird oneself "tighten the belt and tuck up loose garments to free the body in preparation for a task or journey."
Example
- 1. Ourselves we arm , our land we gird .
- 2. I will gird you , though you have not known me .
- 3. I will gird thee , though thou hast not known me .
- 4. Guangdong power gird corporation electric power research institute .
- 5. A new generation of buyers should gird themselves for disappointment .