Etymology: Two formations: (1) Old English stride strong masculine (corresponding to Middle Low German strede ), < strid- weak-grade of the root of stride v. The Middle English spelling stride, stryde may sometimes represent this formation (with short i), which, with regular dialectal development of the vowel appears also in the 15th cent. form strēde; the latter, however, might also possibly represent Old English (north.) strǽde, < the same root. (2) The surviving word, < the present-stem of the verb, is attested already a1300 in the Cursor Mundi (line 10592) by the rhyme with biside.

Etymology: Old English strídan strong verb (once only, but compare bestrídan , found once in past tense bestrád : see bestride v.) = (Middle) Low German strîden strong verb, to set the legs wide apart, straddle, to take long steps; compare Low German bestriden to bestride (a horse). The verb is not found elsewhere in Germanic with similar sense, but is formally coincident and probably identical with the strong verb meaning to strive, quarrel: Old Frisian strîda, (Middle) Dutch strijden, Middle Low German strîden, Old High German strîtan (Middle High German strîten, modern German streiten); of the same or similar meaning are the weak verbs, Old Saxon strîdian (Middle Low German strîden), Old Norse strîða (Norwegian, Swedish strida; Danish stride is now conjugated strong); compare Old Frisian, Old Saxon strîd, Dutch strijd, Old High German strît (modern German streit) masculine strife, quarrel, Old Norse stríð neuter strife, grief, affliction (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish strid), stríða feminine adversity, severity, strið-r stubborn, severe (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish strid).The primary meaning of the Germanic root *strῑđ- is commonly assumed to be ‘contention’ or ‘strong effort’. On this view the English sense of the verb, ‘to take long steps’ (sense 2 below), would be a development from the continental sense ‘to strive’. This would in itself be possible, but sense 1 would remain unexplained. The assumption of a primary sense ‘to diverge’ (compare Sanskrit sridh to go astray) would account plausibly on the one hand for the sense ‘to quarrel’, and on the other hand for the sense ‘to straddle’, from which the sense ‘to take long steps’ would be a natural development. The later examples show much uncertainty with regard to the conjugation. Perhaps (though this is far from certain) most people would give strode, stridden in answer to a grammatical question; but in actual speech and writing there is often hesitation as to the correct form. The past participle rarely occurs; our material includes hardly any 19th or 20th cent. examples of stridden, and not many of strided. In the past tense strode is certainly the usual form; but where the reference is to a single act and not to a manner of progression there seems to be a tendency to say strided (‘I strided over the ditch’).