gird up one's loins
gird up one's loins verb: to prepare oneself for something demanding.
Verb
gird up one's loins (third-person singular simple present girds up one's loins, present participle girding up one's loins, simple past and past participle girded up one's loins or (archaic) girt up one's loins)
- To prepare oneself for something demanding.
- Man came into this world, not to sit down and muse, not to befog himself with vain subtleties, but to gird up his loins and to work.1857, Herman Melville, chapter 37, in The Confidence Man
- Then Tom girded up his loins, so to speak, and went to work to “get his verses.”1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter IV, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 42
- Synonyms:
- brace oneself, eat one's Wheaties, roll up one's sleeves, shape up, steel oneself, suck it up
Synonyms of gird up one's loins
- brace oneself
- eat one's Wheaties
- roll up one's sleeves
- shape up
- steel oneself
- suck it up
Forms of gird up one's loins
| third-person singular present | girds up one's loins |
|---|---|
| present participle | girding up one's loins |
| past participle | girded up one's loins |
| past | girded up one's loins |
| alternative form | gird one's loins |
| alternative form | girdle one's loins |
| past participle (archaic) | girt up one's loins |
| past (archaic) | girt up one's loins |
Origin of gird up one's loins
Likely a Hebraism, often used in the King James Bible (e.g., 2 Kings 4:29). Literally referred to the need to strap a belt around one's waist, i.e. when getting up, in order to avoid the cloak falling off; or otherwise before battle, to free the legs for running.
Questions about gird up one's loins
- What does gird up one's loins mean?
- Gird up one's loins means to prepare oneself for something demanding.
- What part of speech is gird up one's loins?
- Gird up one's loins is a verb.
- What is the past tense of gird up one's loins?
- The past tense of gird up one's loins is girded up one's loins.
Words near gird up one's loins in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gird up one's loins (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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