To Gird. v.a. pret. girded, or girt. [ʒẏrdan, Saxon.]

1. To bind round.

   They sprinkled earth upon their heads, and girded their loins with sackcloth. 2 Mac. x. 25.

2. To put on so as to surround or bind.

   Cords of the bigness of packthread were fastened to bandages, which the workmen had girt round my neck. Gulliver.

3. To fasten by binding.

   He girt his warlike harness about him. 1 Mac. iii. 3.

   My bow and thunder, my almighty arms
   Gird on, and sword upon thy puissant thigh. Milt. P. Lost.

   No, let us rise at once, gird on our swords,
   And, at the head of our remaining troops,
   Attack the foe. Addison's Cato.

   The combatant too late the field declines,
   When now the sword is girded to his loins. Prior.

4. To invest.

   Stoop then, and set your knee against my foot;
   And in reguerdon of that duty done,
   I gird thee with the valiant sword of York. Shakesp. H. VI.

               The son appear'd,
   Girt with omnipotence. Milton's Paradise Lost, b. vii.

5. To dress; to habit; to clothe.

   I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. Ezek. xvi. 10.

               Tysiphone there keeps the ward,
   Girt in her sanguine gown, by night and day,
   Observant of the souls that pass the downward way. Dryd.

6. To cover round as a garment.

   These, with what skill they had, together sow'd,
   To gird their waist: vain covering, if to hide
   Their guilt, and dreaded shame! Milton's Paradise Lost.

7. To reproach; to gibe.

   Being mov'd, he will not spare to gird the gods. Shakes.

8. To furnish; to equip.

   So to the coast of Jordan he directs
   His easy steps, girded with snaky wiles. Paradise Regain'd.

9. To inclose; to incircle.

                       That Nyseian isle,
   Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham
   Hid Amalthea, and her florid son
   Young Bacchus, from his stepdame Rhea's eye. Milt. P. L.