Pa. t. bestrode; also bestrid. Pa. pple. bestridden; also strid, -strode, (8 -strodden). For other forms see STRIDE. [OE. bi-, bestrídan, f. bi-, BE- 4 + strídan 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. Shaks., Rich. II., V. v. 79. That horse that thou so often hast bestrid.
1630. Tincker of 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. Shaks., 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. Shaks., Jul. C., I. ii. 135. He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus. Ibid. (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. Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 192. When I bestrid thee in the warres, and tooke Deepe scarres to saue thy life. Ibid. (1605), Macb., IV. iii. 4. Let vs … like good men, Bestride our downfall Birthdome.
1642. Charles I., Answ. 19 Prop. 2. They have … bestridde Sir John Hotham in his bold-faced Treason.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, 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. Shaks., Cor., IV. v. 124. When I first my wedded Mistrís 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 Bestrider, Bestriding vbl. sb. 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.
