begird
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d
Forms: form: begirds
form: begirding
form: begirt
form: begirt
form: begirded
form: begirded
Etymology: From Middle English begirden, from Old English begyrdan (“to gird, clothe, surround, fortify”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- + *gurdijaną (“to gird”), equivalent to be- + gird. Cognate with Old High German begurtjan (“to begird”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌳𐌰𐌽 (bigairdan, “to begird”). More at be-, gird.
Senses: examples: text: [A] Sagamore with a Humberd in his eare for a pendant, a black havvke on his occiput for his plume, Movvhackees for his gold chaine, good ſtore of VVampompeage begirting his loynes, his bovv in his hand, his quiver at his back, vvith ſix naked Indian ſplatterlaſhes at his heeles for his guard, thinkes himſelfe little inferiour to the great Cham; hee vvill not ſtick to ſay, hee is all one vvith King Charles.
ref: 1634, William Wood, “Of Their Apparell, Ornaments, Paintings, and Other Artificiall Deckings”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Of the Indians, […]), page 66:
text: He was begirt with a clean linen apron which fell below his knees […]
ref: 1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume II, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], →OCLC, page 49:
text: 1876, William Morris (translator), The Æneids of Virgil, London: Ellis & White, Book 5, line 364, p. 130,
Let him come forth to raise his arm with hide-begirded hand.
glosses: To bind with a band or girdle; to gird.
examples: text: […] I will stand my self
for the whole Regiment, and safer far
in mine owne single valour, then begirt
with cowards and with traitors.
ref: c. 1620s, John Webster, Appius and Virginia, London, published 1654, Act II, Scene 1, pp. 16-17:
text: Who having round begirt the Palace, / (As once a moth they do the Gallows) / As Members gave the sign about / Set up their throats with hideous shout.
ref: 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 42:
text: 1717, Arthur Maynwaring (translator), Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books, London: Jacob Tonson, Book 5, “The Story of Perseus continu’d,” p. 148,
Perseus begirt, from all around they pour
Their Lances on him, a tempestuous Show’r,
Aim’d all at him […]
text: [A]nd now I had him every way encircled and begirt; and having drawn him home to me, I kept him faſt there, as if I had ſought to unite bodies with him at that point.
ref: 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 211:
english: Fanny Hill
translation: Fanny Hill
text: O lead me to that happy Path,
Where I my GOD may meet;
Tho’ Hosts of Foes begird it round,
Tho’ Briars wound my Feet.
ref: 1755, Philip Doddridge, Hymns Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures, Salop, page 1:
text: Theſe manſions, and this fortreſs well begirt, / With lofty ramparts, no vain pomp diſplay.
ref: 1782, Euripides, “[Fragments.] Danae.”, in Michael Wodhull, transl., The Nineteen Tragedies and Fragments of Euripides. … In Four Volumes, volume IV, London: […] Thomas Payne and Son, […], →OCLC, page 225:
text: The chateau burned; the nearest trees, laid hold of by the fire, scorched and shrivelled; trees at a distance, fired by the four fierce figures, begirt the blazing edifice with a new forest of smoke.
ref: 1859, Charles Dickens, chapter XXIII, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To encircle, surround, as with a gird; enclose; encompass.
Derived terms: unbegirt