gird

verb (used with object), gird·ed or girt, gird·ing.

1. to encircle or bind with a belt or band.
2. to surround; enclose; hem in.
3. to prepare (oneself) for action: He girded himself for the trial ahead.
4. to provide, equip, or invest, as with power or strength.

verb (used without object)

1. to gibe; jeer (usually followed by at).

verb (used with object)

2. to gibe or jeer at; taunt.

noun

3. a gibe.

verb girds, girding, girded or girt (tr)

1. to put a belt, girdle, etc, around (the waist or hips)
2. to bind or secure with or as if with a beltto gird on one’s armour
3. to surround; encircle
4. to prepare (oneself) for action (esp in the phrase gird (up) one’s loins)
5. to endow with a rank, attribute, etc, esp knighthood

verb

1. (when intr, foll by at) to jeer (at someone); mock
2. (tr) to strike (a blow at someone)
3. (intr) to move at high speed

noun

4. 1. a blow or stroke
   2. a taunt; gibe
5. a display of bad temper or anger (esp in the phrases in a gird; throw a gird)

noun

1. Scot a hoop, esp a child’s hoopAlso: girr

v.

Old English gyrdan “put a belt or girdle around; encircle, surround; invest with attributes,” from Proto-Germanic *gurthjanan (cf. Old Norse gyrða, Old Saxon gurdian, Old Frisian gerda, Dutch gorden, Old High German gurtan, German gürten). Related to Old English geard “hedge, enclosure” (see yard (n.1)). Related: Girded; girding.

Throughout its whole history the English word is chiefly employed in rhetorical language, in many instances with more or less direct allusion to biblical passages. [OED]