▪ I. bestride, v.
(bɪˈstraɪd)
Pa. tense bestrode; also bestrid. Pa. pple. bestridden; also -strid, -strode, (8 -strodden). For other forms see stride.
[OE. bi-, bestr{iacu}dan, f. bi-, be- 4 + str{iacu}dan to stride. Cf. MHG. bestrîden, MDu. bestryden.]
1. To sit upon with the legs astride. a. To ride, mount (a horse, etc.). The original use.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 136 He his hors bestrad. c 1300 K. Alis. 706 Bulsifal that hors het..No dorste no mon him bystryde. c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 192 His goode Steede al he bistrood. c 1450 Laud MS. 595 f. 1 The worthiest wyght in wede That ever by-strod any stede. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. v. 79 That horse that thou so often hast bestrid. 1630 Tink. Turvey 17, I never bestrad any one beast in my life but a mare. a 1771 Gray Fatal Sisters 63 Sisters, hence with spurs of speed..Each bestride her sable steed. 1817 Byron Manfred ii. ii. 7 The Giant steed, to be bestrode by Death. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxii. 281 Ostriches..bestridden each by a tiny cupid. |
b. To sit across (other things) as on a horse.
| c 1205 Lay. 28020 Þa halle ich gon bistriden Swulc ich wolde riden. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 31 When he bestrides the lasie pacing cloudes. 1785 Cowper Task ii. 439 Through the pressed nostril, spectacle-bestrid. 1793 Southey in Life (1849) I. 180 The driving blast, bestrodden by the spirit of Ossian. 1822 Scott Nigel i, Who can say what nose they [the barnacles] may bestride. |
| fig. 1752 Bp. Warburton Lett. Emin. Prelate (1809) 119 The Church, bestrid by some bumpish minister of state, who turns and winds it at his pleasure. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. iii. vi. 320 The wrath that is to bridle and bestride everlastingly His will and counsel. |
2. To stand over (a place) with the legs astride; to straddle over, to bestraddle. Also fig.
| 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 135 He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 82 His legges bestrid the Ocean. 1787 Bentham Def. Usury xiii. 131 Your formidable image bestriding the ground. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 53 A statue..called the Colossus of Rhodes, is said to have bestridden the mouth of the harbour. |
b. To stand over, as a victor over the fallen.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 97 b, His crucifyers bestrydynge hym. 1719 Young Revenge v. ii, How I bestride your prostrate conqueror! 1826 Scott Woodst. ix, He seemed already to bestride the land which he had conquered. |
c. To stand over (a fallen man) in order to defend him; also fig. to defend, protect, support.
| 1580 North Plutarch 236 A Romaine souldier being thrown to the ground euen harde by him, Martius straight bestrid him, and slew the enemie. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 192 When I bestrid thee in the warres, and tooke Deepe scarres to saue thy life. 1605 ― Macb. iv. iii. 4. 1642 Chas. I Answ. 19 Prop. 2 They have..bestridde Sir John Hotham in his bold-faced Treason. 1847 Tennyson Princ. ii. 224 As he bestrode my Grandsire, when he fell, And all else fled. |
† d. intr. To stand astride. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W.) 254 His turmentours or crucifyers moost unreuerently bestrydynge ouer his blessed face. |
3. transf. of things (e.g. a rainbow, bridge). trans.
| 1728 Thomson Spring 203 Bestriding earth, the grand ethereal bow Shoots up immense. 1785 Cowper Task iv. 3 Yonder bridge That with its wearisome, but needful length Bestrides the wintry flood. 1860 Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1878) II. xix. 222 Bestridden by old, triumphal arches. |
4. To stride across, to step across with long strides. Also fig.
| c 1600 Rob. Hood (Ritson) ii. x. 62 Deepe water he did bestride. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. v. 124 When I first my wedded Mistris saw Bestride my Threshold. 1814 Byron Corsair iii. xix. 13 He..Strives through the surge, bestrides the beach. 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 615, I shall bestride the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. |
Hence beˈstrider, beˈstriding vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1618 Bolton Florus ii. vi. 95 If his Sonne..had not rescued his Father from certaine death itselfe with bold bestriding him. 1830 Southey Yng. Dragon II. 77 The fiercest steed that e'er To battle bore bestrider. 1849 Dickens Dav. Copp. xiii, A third animal laden with a bestriding child. |
▪ II. † beˈstride, prep. Obs. rare—1.
For astride, influenced by the vb.
| 1813 J. C. Hobhouse Journey 408 A marble lion..with the legs of a man bestride him. |