What does bestride mean?
Bestride is a transitive verb meaning to sit or stand with one leg on either side of something, most classically a horse, and by extension to span or stretch across it. Its figurative sense is the one that keeps the word alive today: to bestride a field, an industry, or an age is to dominate it so thoroughly that you seem to tower over it, much as a colossus might plant one foot on each shore of a harbor. The word carries a distinctly literary, even grandiloquent flavor — modern speakers usually reach for 'straddle' in literal contexts — yet writers still deploy bestride when they want connotations of stature, command, or imposing presence. It declines irregularly: bestrode in the simple past, bestridden (or bestrid) as the past participle. Anyone who wants their prose to sound commanding will find few verbs that loom quite so large.
verbTo sit or stand with a leg on either side of something; to straddle. Figuratively, to dominate or span something as if towering over it.
- To sit or stand with a leg on each side of; to straddle (especially a horse).
- To extend over or span something physically.
- To dominate, lord over, or loom large in (a field, era, or domain) — usually figurative and somewhat literary.
"The bronze statue shows the general bestriding his horse, gazing toward the battlefield."
"She swung up and bestrided the mare with practiced ease."
"For three decades he bestrided the world of finance like a giant, until the crash toppled him."
Shakespeare gave it its most famous outing: in Julius Caesar, Cassius warns that 'the narrow world' lies like 'a Colossus' at whose legs we petty men 'walk under' — the image of one man bestriding everything.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bestride
Bestride comes from Old English bestrīdan, formed from the prefix be- plus the verb strīdan 'to stride', making it a sibling of the everyday word 'stride' and the adverb 'astride'. It has been part of English since before the Norman Conquest, giving it a pedigree far older than many Latinate verbs of similar formality. The Germanic root behind all these forms conveyed stepping energetically or spanning with the legs, which explains why bestride has always carried both a literal straddling sense and, later, a figurative sense of domination.
Related word forms
How bestride is actually used
Literary and somewhat elevated in tone; in everyday speech, 'straddle' has largely displaced both its literal and figurative senses. The figurative use often carries a hint of grandeur or swagger, sometimes ironic. Principal parts: bestride, bestrode, bestridden (also bestrid).
Easily confused with bestride
Astride is an adverb or preposition describing a straddling position ('she sat astride the horse'), while bestride is a verb meaning to take up that position or dominate something.