What does "bestride" mean?

To be astride something, to stand over or sit on with legs on either side, especially to sit on a horse.

What is a synonym for "bestride"?

Common synonyms include: abut, abut on, arch, arch over, back, be based on.

Bestride

//bɪˈstɹaɪd// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb

1
To be astride something, to stand over or sit on with legs on either side, especially to sit on a horse. transitive
"& thou were the truest frende to thy louar that euer bestrade hors "And thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrad horse""
2
get up on the back of wordnet
3
To stride over, or across. transitive
4
To dominate. figuratively, transitive
"Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world / Like a Colossus[…]."

Synonyms

All synonyms

abut abut on arch arch over back be based on

Example

More examples

"& thou were the truest frende to thy louar that euer bestrade hors "And thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrad horse""

Etymology

From Middle English bestriden, from Old English bestrīdan, from Proto-West Germanic *bistrīdan; equivalent to be- + stride. Compare Dutch bestrijden, German bestreiten.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.