unˈgird, v.
[un-2 4, 4 b. Cf. MDu. on(t)gorden (Du. ont-), OHG. ingurten, -curten (MHG. engürten, G. entgürten).]
1. trans. and refl. To divest of, or free from, a girdle or girth.
In OE. (quot. c 900) also with instr. (of the thing) as well as acc. (of the person).
| c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. iii. xiv. (1890) 196 Se cyning þonne..ongyrde hine þa his sweorde & sealde his þeᵹne. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives xxx. 409 Se casere..het hine ungyrdan and bewæpnian. 14.. in Wr.-Wülcker 578 Discingo, to ungyrd. 1530 Palsgr. 768/1, I ungyrde a horse. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John xxi. 117 For thou vngirdedst or gyrdest thy self at thyne owne wil and pleasure. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 391 As he stoode at the Barre, the Lord Neuel was commaunded..to vngyrde him. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 301 Let the man come,..and after he hath ungirt himselfe, gird her about the middle with his owne girdle. 1611 Bible Gen. xxiv. 32 The man..vngirded his camels. |
| fig. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. E iv b, The resplendent..buildings of your Temple, (like a Drum), shal be vngirt & vnbraced. 1825 Macaulay Ess., Milton (1897) 5 The sportive exercises for which the genius of Milton ungirds itself. |
2. To release, or take off, by undoing a belt or girth.
| 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 158 Rychard..descended fro hys hors for to vngyrde and lose hys sadle. 1623 Bp. Hall Contempl., O.T. xix. iii, Was not this he that advised Benhadad, not to boast in the putting on his armour, as in the ungirding it. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 63 How many..in the hot sun-shine of prosperity have ungirt and cast off that cloake. 1810 Scott Lady of L. vi. xxii, When mourns thy tribe thy battles done,..Thy sword ungirt ere set of sun! 1848 Bp. A. Jolly Observ. Sunday Services (ed. 4) 293 We must..never ungird our armour. |
| fig. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iv. i. 15, I prethee now vngird thy strangenes, and tell me. |
Hence
unˈgirding vbl. n.| 1639 J. Corbet (title), The Ungirding of the Scottish Armour: or, an Answer to the Informations [etc.]. |