From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English gird /ɡɜːd $ ɡɜːrd/ verb (past tense and past participle girded or girt /ɡɜːt $ ɡɜːrt/) 1 → gird (up) your loins 2 [ intransitive, transitive] if you gird for something, or gird yourself for something, especially something difficult, you prepare for it gird (yourself) for something By midsummer both police and protesters were girding for confrontation. → See Verb table Examples from the Corpus gird • A full frontal approach was certain to come, and Carla did her best to be girded against such a confrontation.