What does bestriding mean?
'Bestriding' is the present participle and gerund of the verb 'bestride', which means to sit or stand with a leg on either side of something — most classically a horse, though also a bicycle or any object one mounts astride. By extension, it describes something spanning or stretching across a space, such as a bridge bestriding a river. Its most frequent modern use, however, is figurative: writers describe statesmen, moguls, or artists as 'bestriding' their era, industry, or 'the world', evoking the image of a colossus with one foot on either side of a domain, dominating all it surveys. This figurative sense carries a connotation of grandeur and command, sometimes admiring and sometimes faintly ironic when applied to the self-important. The verb is irregular — bestride, bestrode, bestridden — and its participial form appears chiefly in formal, literary, or journalistic prose rather than everyday speech.
Sitting or standing with a leg on either side of; spanning; or, figuratively, dominating a field or era.
"A marble figure of Apollo stood bestriding the fountain."
Irregular conjugation: bestride / bestrode / bestridden.
The act of sitting astride something or of dominating a sphere of activity.
"His confident bestriding of the boardroom left no doubt about who was in charge."
Before he was a titan of Victorian industry, the phrase for such a man was simple: he went 'bestriding the world like a Colossus' — a image Shakespeare gave Julius Caesar nearly four centuries earlier.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bestriding
'Bestriding' derives from the Old English verb 'bestrīdan', formed from the prefix 'be-' plus 'rīdan' ('to ride'), originally meaning to ride over or across something. It has been part of English since the earliest recorded period, and its figurative use — dominating a sphere of activity — was firmly established by the early modern period, most famously in Shakespeare's image of Caesar 'bestriding the narrow world like a Colossus' in Julius Caesar (1599). It shares its root with the plain verb 'stride' and the adverb 'astride'.
Related word forms
How bestriding is actually used
The literal sense (sitting astride a horse) is now somewhat literary or old-fashioned; the figurative sense — describing someone who dominates their field — is common in journalism and biography, often in phrases like 'bestriding the world'. The verb is irregular: bestride / bestrode / bestridden.
Easily confused with bestriding
'Bestriding' is the present participle or gerund of 'bestride', while 'bestrode' is its simple past tense.