Meaning of “to gird up one's loins” (King James English) [on hold]
What is the meaning of [to] "gird up [one's] loins"?
idiom-meaning
edited 9 hours ago
Laurel
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asked 14 hours ago
M WilsonM Wilson
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put on hold as off-topic by Dan Bron, J. Taylor, TaliesinMerlin, Paul Rowe, Janus Bahs Jacquet 8 hours ago
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
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add a comment |
What is the meaning of [to] "gird up [one's] loins"?
idiom-meaning
edited 9 hours ago
Laurel
34k667119
asked 14 hours ago
M WilsonM Wilson
71
New contributor
M Wilson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
put on hold as off-topic by Dan Bron, J. Taylor, TaliesinMerlin, Paul Rowe, Janus Bahs Jacquet 8 hours ago
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Please include the research you’ve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic." – Dan Bron, J. Taylor, TaliesinMerlin, Paul Rowe, Janus Bahs Jacquet
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
I assume from the fact that you refer to this as "King James English" that you are quoting from the Bible. If so, you could easily check the same verse is a modern Bible.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
add a comment |
What is the meaning of [to] "gird up [one's] loins"?
idiom-meaning
edited 9 hours ago
Laurel
34k667119
asked 14 hours ago
M WilsonM Wilson
71
New contributor
M Wilson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
What is the meaning of [to] "gird up [one's] loins"?
idiom-meaning
idiom-meaning
edited 9 hours ago
Laurel
34k667119
asked 14 hours ago
M WilsonM Wilson
71
New contributor
M Wilson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 9 hours ago
Laurel
34k667119
asked 14 hours ago
M WilsonM Wilson
71
New contributor
M Wilson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 9 hours ago
Laurel
34k667119
edited 9 hours ago
Laurel
34k667119
edited 9 hours ago
Laurel
34k667119
34k667119
asked 14 hours ago
M WilsonM Wilson
71
New contributor
M Wilson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 14 hours ago
M WilsonM Wilson
71
asked 14 hours ago
M WilsonM Wilson
71
71
New contributor
M Wilson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
M Wilson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
M Wilson is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
put on hold as off-topic by Dan Bron, J. Taylor, TaliesinMerlin, Paul Rowe, Janus Bahs Jacquet 8 hours ago
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Please include the research you’ve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic." – Dan Bron, J. Taylor, TaliesinMerlin, Paul Rowe, Janus Bahs Jacquet
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
put on hold as off-topic by Dan Bron, J. Taylor, TaliesinMerlin, Paul Rowe, Janus Bahs Jacquet 8 hours ago
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Please include the research you’ve done, or consider if your question suits our English Language Learners site better. Questions that can be answered using commonly-available references are off-topic." – Dan Bron, J. Taylor, TaliesinMerlin, Paul Rowe, Janus Bahs Jacquet
If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
I assume from the fact that you refer to this as "King James English" that you are quoting from the Bible. If so, you could easily check the same verse is a modern Bible.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
add a comment |
I assume from the fact that you refer to this as "King James English" that you are quoting from the Bible. If so, you could easily check the same verse is a modern Bible.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
I assume from the fact that you refer to this as "King James English" that you are quoting from the Bible. If so, you could easily check the same verse is a modern Bible.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
I assume from the fact that you refer to this as "King James English" that you are quoting from the Bible. If so, you could easily check the same verse is a modern Bible.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
The literal meaning is reasonably clear if you understand the verb gird.
gird
transitive verb
1a : to encircle or bind with a flexible band (such as a belt)
b : to make (something, such as clothing or a sword ) fast or secure (as with a cord or belt)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gird
Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-gird-up-your-loins-an-illustrated-guide/
answered 14 hours ago
JuhaszJuhasz
2,7131511
1
So, basically the same thing as hiking up one’s skirts, eh? :)
– tchrist♦
13 hours ago
1
An entirely irresistible answer. :) Compared to some questions, this is not worthy of "vote to close" as the answer is so amusing.
– Lambie
13 hours ago
So I'm suitably amused. :) That said, this feels like folk etymology. Girding literally refers to wearing a belt or girdle. 2 Samuel 20:18 (KJV) refers to "a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof," suggesting only a girdle, and 1 Kings 20:32 has "So they girded sackcloth on their loins," suggesting only applying a sackcloth belt. Similarly 2 Kings 1:8 has "girt with a girdle of leather about his loins," and Job 12:18 has "girdeth their loins with a girdle." How do we know that all these extra steps are involved?
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
Whew, okay. "The Tosefta evidently refers to a beltlike structure used to collect loose clothing around the hips and chest, and thus to free the legs and arms for movement" (109-10 in "She Binds Her Arms": Rereading Proverbs 31:17 ). I can accept the above as one way to gather clothing. :)
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
OED: the explanation is right: a. transitive. To surround, encircle (the waist, a person about the waist) with a belt or girdle, esp. for the purpose of confining the garments and allowing freer action to the body. Chiefly reflexive or passive; also, after Biblical phrase, to gird one's loins, to gird one's reins, etc. Also to gird up, to gird about. [the second meaning for the verb is very different. :)]
– Lambie
8 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The literal meaning is reasonably clear if you understand the verb gird.
gird
transitive verb
1a : to encircle or bind with a flexible band (such as a belt)
b : to make (something, such as clothing or a sword ) fast or secure (as with a cord or belt)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gird
Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-gird-up-your-loins-an-illustrated-guide/
answered 14 hours ago
JuhaszJuhasz
2,7131511
1
So, basically the same thing as hiking up one’s skirts, eh? :)
– tchrist♦
13 hours ago
1
An entirely irresistible answer. :) Compared to some questions, this is not worthy of "vote to close" as the answer is so amusing.
– Lambie
13 hours ago
So I'm suitably amused. :) That said, this feels like folk etymology. Girding literally refers to wearing a belt or girdle. 2 Samuel 20:18 (KJV) refers to "a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof," suggesting only a girdle, and 1 Kings 20:32 has "So they girded sackcloth on their loins," suggesting only applying a sackcloth belt. Similarly 2 Kings 1:8 has "girt with a girdle of leather about his loins," and Job 12:18 has "girdeth their loins with a girdle." How do we know that all these extra steps are involved?
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
Whew, okay. "The Tosefta evidently refers to a beltlike structure used to collect loose clothing around the hips and chest, and thus to free the legs and arms for movement" (109-10 in "She Binds Her Arms": Rereading Proverbs 31:17 ). I can accept the above as one way to gather clothing. :)
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
OED: the explanation is right: a. transitive. To surround, encircle (the waist, a person about the waist) with a belt or girdle, esp. for the purpose of confining the garments and allowing freer action to the body. Chiefly reflexive or passive; also, after Biblical phrase, to gird one's loins, to gird one's reins, etc. Also to gird up, to gird about. [the second meaning for the verb is very different. :)]
– Lambie
8 hours ago
add a comment |
The literal meaning is reasonably clear if you understand the verb gird.
gird
transitive verb
1a : to encircle or bind with a flexible band (such as a belt)
b : to make (something, such as clothing or a sword ) fast or secure (as with a cord or belt)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gird
Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-gird-up-your-loins-an-illustrated-guide/
answered 14 hours ago
JuhaszJuhasz
2,7131511
1
So, basically the same thing as hiking up one’s skirts, eh? :)
– tchrist♦
13 hours ago
1
An entirely irresistible answer. :) Compared to some questions, this is not worthy of "vote to close" as the answer is so amusing.
– Lambie
13 hours ago
So I'm suitably amused. :) That said, this feels like folk etymology. Girding literally refers to wearing a belt or girdle. 2 Samuel 20:18 (KJV) refers to "a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof," suggesting only a girdle, and 1 Kings 20:32 has "So they girded sackcloth on their loins," suggesting only applying a sackcloth belt. Similarly 2 Kings 1:8 has "girt with a girdle of leather about his loins," and Job 12:18 has "girdeth their loins with a girdle." How do we know that all these extra steps are involved?
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
Whew, okay. "The Tosefta evidently refers to a beltlike structure used to collect loose clothing around the hips and chest, and thus to free the legs and arms for movement" (109-10 in "She Binds Her Arms": Rereading Proverbs 31:17 ). I can accept the above as one way to gather clothing. :)
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
OED: the explanation is right: a. transitive. To surround, encircle (the waist, a person about the waist) with a belt or girdle, esp. for the purpose of confining the garments and allowing freer action to the body. Chiefly reflexive or passive; also, after Biblical phrase, to gird one's loins, to gird one's reins, etc. Also to gird up, to gird about. [the second meaning for the verb is very different. :)]
– Lambie
8 hours ago
add a comment |
The literal meaning is reasonably clear if you understand the verb gird.
gird
transitive verb
1a : to encircle or bind with a flexible band (such as a belt)
b : to make (something, such as clothing or a sword ) fast or secure (as with a cord or belt)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gird
Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-gird-up-your-loins-an-illustrated-guide/
answered 14 hours ago
JuhaszJuhasz
2,7131511
The literal meaning is reasonably clear if you understand the verb gird.
gird
transitive verb
1a : to encircle or bind with a flexible band (such as a belt)
b : to make (something, such as clothing or a sword ) fast or secure (as with a cord or belt)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gird
Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement.
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-gird-up-your-loins-an-illustrated-guide/
answered 14 hours ago
JuhaszJuhasz
2,7131511
answered 14 hours ago
JuhaszJuhasz
2,7131511
answered 14 hours ago
JuhaszJuhasz
2,7131511
answered 14 hours ago
JuhaszJuhasz
2,7131511
2,7131511
1
So, basically the same thing as hiking up one’s skirts, eh? :)
– tchrist♦
13 hours ago
1
An entirely irresistible answer. :) Compared to some questions, this is not worthy of "vote to close" as the answer is so amusing.
– Lambie
13 hours ago
So I'm suitably amused. :) That said, this feels like folk etymology. Girding literally refers to wearing a belt or girdle. 2 Samuel 20:18 (KJV) refers to "a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof," suggesting only a girdle, and 1 Kings 20:32 has "So they girded sackcloth on their loins," suggesting only applying a sackcloth belt. Similarly 2 Kings 1:8 has "girt with a girdle of leather about his loins," and Job 12:18 has "girdeth their loins with a girdle." How do we know that all these extra steps are involved?
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
Whew, okay. "The Tosefta evidently refers to a beltlike structure used to collect loose clothing around the hips and chest, and thus to free the legs and arms for movement" (109-10 in "She Binds Her Arms": Rereading Proverbs 31:17 ). I can accept the above as one way to gather clothing. :)
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
OED: the explanation is right: a. transitive. To surround, encircle (the waist, a person about the waist) with a belt or girdle, esp. for the purpose of confining the garments and allowing freer action to the body. Chiefly reflexive or passive; also, after Biblical phrase, to gird one's loins, to gird one's reins, etc. Also to gird up, to gird about. [the second meaning for the verb is very different. :)]
– Lambie
8 hours ago
add a comment |
1
So, basically the same thing as hiking up one’s skirts, eh? :)
– tchrist♦
13 hours ago
1
An entirely irresistible answer. :) Compared to some questions, this is not worthy of "vote to close" as the answer is so amusing.
– Lambie
13 hours ago
So I'm suitably amused. :) That said, this feels like folk etymology. Girding literally refers to wearing a belt or girdle. 2 Samuel 20:18 (KJV) refers to "a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof," suggesting only a girdle, and 1 Kings 20:32 has "So they girded sackcloth on their loins," suggesting only applying a sackcloth belt. Similarly 2 Kings 1:8 has "girt with a girdle of leather about his loins," and Job 12:18 has "girdeth their loins with a girdle." How do we know that all these extra steps are involved?
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
Whew, okay. "The Tosefta evidently refers to a beltlike structure used to collect loose clothing around the hips and chest, and thus to free the legs and arms for movement" (109-10 in "She Binds Her Arms": Rereading Proverbs 31:17 ). I can accept the above as one way to gather clothing. :)
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
OED: the explanation is right: a. transitive. To surround, encircle (the waist, a person about the waist) with a belt or girdle, esp. for the purpose of confining the garments and allowing freer action to the body. Chiefly reflexive or passive; also, after Biblical phrase, to gird one's loins, to gird one's reins, etc. Also to gird up, to gird about. [the second meaning for the verb is very different. :)]
– Lambie
8 hours ago
1
1
So, basically the same thing as hiking up one’s skirts, eh? :)
– tchrist♦
13 hours ago
So, basically the same thing as hiking up one’s skirts, eh? :)
– tchrist♦
13 hours ago
1
1
An entirely irresistible answer. :) Compared to some questions, this is not worthy of "vote to close" as the answer is so amusing.
– Lambie
13 hours ago
An entirely irresistible answer. :) Compared to some questions, this is not worthy of "vote to close" as the answer is so amusing.
– Lambie
13 hours ago
So I'm suitably amused. :) That said, this feels like folk etymology. Girding literally refers to wearing a belt or girdle. 2 Samuel 20:18 (KJV) refers to "a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof," suggesting only a girdle, and 1 Kings 20:32 has "So they girded sackcloth on their loins," suggesting only applying a sackcloth belt. Similarly 2 Kings 1:8 has "girt with a girdle of leather about his loins," and Job 12:18 has "girdeth their loins with a girdle." How do we know that all these extra steps are involved?
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
So I'm suitably amused. :) That said, this feels like folk etymology. Girding literally refers to wearing a belt or girdle. 2 Samuel 20:18 (KJV) refers to "a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof," suggesting only a girdle, and 1 Kings 20:32 has "So they girded sackcloth on their loins," suggesting only applying a sackcloth belt. Similarly 2 Kings 1:8 has "girt with a girdle of leather about his loins," and Job 12:18 has "girdeth their loins with a girdle." How do we know that all these extra steps are involved?
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
Whew, okay. "The Tosefta evidently refers to a beltlike structure used to collect loose clothing around the hips and chest, and thus to free the legs and arms for movement" (109-10 in "She Binds Her Arms": Rereading Proverbs 31:17 ). I can accept the above as one way to gather clothing. :)
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
Whew, okay. "The Tosefta evidently refers to a beltlike structure used to collect loose clothing around the hips and chest, and thus to free the legs and arms for movement" (109-10 in "She Binds Her Arms": Rereading Proverbs 31:17 ). I can accept the above as one way to gather clothing. :)
– TaliesinMerlin
9 hours ago
OED: the explanation is right: a. transitive. To surround, encircle (the waist, a person about the waist) with a belt or girdle, esp. for the purpose of confining the garments and allowing freer action to the body. Chiefly reflexive or passive; also, after Biblical phrase, to gird one's loins, to gird one's reins, etc. Also to gird up, to gird about. [the second meaning for the verb is very different. :)]
– Lambie
8 hours ago
OED: the explanation is right: a. transitive. To surround, encircle (the waist, a person about the waist) with a belt or girdle, esp. for the purpose of confining the garments and allowing freer action to the body. Chiefly reflexive or passive; also, after Biblical phrase, to gird one's loins, to gird one's reins, etc. Also to gird up, to gird about. [the second meaning for the verb is very different. :)]
– Lambie
8 hours ago
add a comment |
I assume from the fact that you refer to this as "King James English" that you are quoting from the Bible. If so, you could easily check the same verse is a modern Bible.
– TrevorD
9 hours ago