begirdv.
/bɪˈɡəːd/ 1. transitive. To gird about or around; chiefly used of fastening a girdle or belt round the body, or of fastening on a sword by means of a belt. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > provide with clothing [verb (transitive)] > in specific way > with specific garments > belt or girdle
girdc950
begirdc1000
belta1400
girdle1582
c1000 Ags. Ps. xvii. 37 Þu me begyrdest mid mægenum.
c1315 Shoreham 51 Hym with a touwayle schete Ihesus..by-gerte.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis i. 10 My deere sisters with quiuer closelye begyrded.
1774 J. Beattie Minstrel: 2nd Bk. xxxiv. 18 Breasts begirt with steel!
1860 G. J. Adler tr. C. C. Fauriel Hist. Provençal Poetry xv. 399 Begirding the young warrior with the sword.
2. To encircle, encompass, enclose, with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > surrounding > surround or lie around [verb (transitive)] > surround with
begirdc890
belayc893
bitrumc1000
umbegoc1300
vironc1440
compass1481
beset1578
entour1623
to fabricate about with1634
surround1635
hearse1646
gird1667
round1698
entwine1796
c890 tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. i. v He þæt ealond begyrde and gefæstnade mid dice.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 278 Ȝunge ympen me bigurt wið þornes.
1621 P. Heylyn Microcosmus 239 The Iles of Naples..begirt with rockes and mountains.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 581 Vthers Son Begirt with British and Armoric Knights.
1814 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Vision I. xviii. 75 Where..many a foss Begirds some stately castle.
1846 H. W. Longfellow Occult. Orion 33 Begirt with many a blazing star.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > attack > action or state of siege or blockade > besiege or blockade [verb (transitive)]
belieOE
besita1100
beset?c1225
assiege1297
besiege1297
belayc1320
umsiegea1325
ensiegec1380
environa1382
to set before1382
siege1390
forset?a1400
foldc1400
setc1400
to lay siege to, unto, about, against, beforec1449
oppugn?a1475
pursue1488
obsess1503
ferma1522
gird1548
begird1589
beleaguer1590
block1591
invest1591
intermure1606
blockade1684
to lay blockade to1713
leaguer1720
to form the siege1776
cerne1857
1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. K Melicertus begirt the Castle with such a siege.
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. ii. xvi. 209 Now the citie it selfe was begirt with a siege.
1643 J. Angier Lancashires Valley of Achor 32 Lancaster called aloud for relief, having been begirt twenty dayes.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. ii. 885 The Epean host had round Begirt the city.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online September 2021).
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