The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gird \Gird\ (g[~e]rd), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Girtor Girded; p. pr. & vb. n. Girding.] [OE. girden, gurden, AS. gyrdan; akin to OS. gurdian, D. gorden, OHG. gurten, G. g["u]rten, Icel. gyr[eth]a, Sw. gjorda, Dan. giorde, Goth. biga['i]rdan to begird, and prob. to E. yard an inclosure. Cf. Girth, n. & v., Girt, v. t.]
To encircle or bind with any flexible band.
To make fast, as clothing, by binding with a cord, girdle, bandage, etc.
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To surround; to encircle, or encompass.
That Nyseian isle, Girt with the River Triton.
--Milton. -
To clothe; to swathe; to invest.
I girded thee about with fine linen.
--Ezek. xvi. 10.The Son . . . appeared Girt with omnipotence.
--Milton. -
To prepare; to make ready; to equip; as, to gird one's self for a contest.
Thou hast girded me with strength.
--Ps. xviii. 39.To gird on, to put on; to fasten around or to one securely, like a girdle; as, to gird on armor or a sword.
Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.
--1 Kings xx. 11.To gird up, to bind tightly with a girdle; to support and strengthen, as with a girdle.
He girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab.
--1 Kings xviii. 4 -
Gird up the loins of your mind.
--1 Pet. i. 13.Girt up; prepared or equipped, as for a journey or for work, in allusion to the ancient custom of gathering the long flowing garments into the girdle and tightening it before any exertion; hence, adjectively, eagerly or constantly active; strenuous; striving. ``A severer, more girt-up way of living.''
--J. C. Shairp.
Girding \Gird"ing\, n. That with which one is girded; a girdle.
Instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth.
--Is.
iii. 24.
Wiktionary
n. A binding or encircling. vb. (present participle of gird English)
Usage examples of "girding".
His eyes closed, his will girding itself to a supreme effort, his senses exalted to a state of pleasing numbness, he called upon Angele to come to him, his voiceless cry penetrating far out into that sea of faint, ephemeral light that floated tideless over the little valley beneath him.
He waited for her answer, girding himself for the possibility that he would have to move against Deilos at once before he could pose a threat to Joanna.
I saluted and took my leave, Theodoric was girding on his battle armor, but I left mine there in camp, and my snake-blade sword and belt knife, and everything else that would too readily identify me as an Ostrogoth and a warrior.